Baseboard calculator: how much baseboard do I need for a room?
4 pieces
45 linear ft · 48 ft of wall less 3 ft of doors · 12 ft pieces · for a 12 × 12 ft room with 3 ft of doors
Run your own numbers
Enter it the way you measured it: 4.5, 4 1/2,
3/8 or 10' 6".
4 pieces
45 linear ft · 48 ft of wall less 3 ft of doors · 12 ft pieces
A 12 by 12 ft room with one 3 ft door opening needs 45 linear feet of baseboard, its 48 ft perimeter less the door, which is 4 pieces of 12 ft trim joined along the walls.
A worked example
A 17 ft 4 in by 11 ft 9 in living room with two openings of 2 ft 10 in and 5 ft, in 16 ft pieces with 10% waste, needs 4 pieces of 16 ft. The perimeter is 2 × (17.33 + 11.75) = 58.2 ft; less 7.83 ft of openings that is 50.3 linear feet, and 55.4 with 10% added. At 16 ft a piece that is 3.46 pieces, so 4.
How do I calculate linear feet of baseboard?
Add the length of every wall that gets baseboard, which for a plain rectangle is twice the length plus twice the width, and take off the width of each door opening. A 10 by 14 ft bedroom with one 3 ft door is 48 ft of wall less 3, 45 linear feet. Square feet of floor do not give baseboard directly: a long narrow room and a square room with the same area have different perimeters.
How do I count baseboard for a whole house?
Run each room through the calculator and add the linear feet, then divide the total by your piece length. Counting the house as one total uses the scrap from one room in another, so it needs fewer pieces than adding room counts. Hallways are counted along both sides.
What else it is called
Baseboard is also called base trim or base molding. Shoe molding and quarter round run along the bottom of the baseboard and take the same linear feet, so the same count works for them in their own piece length.
Common sizes
| Room | Linear ft | 8 ft pieces | 12 ft pieces | 16 ft pieces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 8 ft | 29 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 10 × 10 ft | 37 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| 10 × 12 ft | 41 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| 12 × 12 ft | 45 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| 12 × 16 ft | 53 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| 16 × 20 ft | 69 | 9 | 6 | 5 |
| 20 × 20 ft | 77 | 10 | 7 | 5 |
Perimeter less one 3 ft door opening, no waste added, pieces joined along the wall. Add a waste allowance in the calculator for corner cuts.
Where the numbers come from
- Linear feet is geometry: the room perimeter, 2 × (length + width), less the width of every door opening, where the baseboard stops at the casing. Pieces are the linear feet plus your waste allowance, divided by the length of the piece you buy, rounded up.
- The count joins pieces end to end along a wall, the way baseboard is run on walls longer than one piece. Piece lengths of 8, 12 and 16 ft are the ones the calculator offers; choose the one sold where you buy.
Each inside and outside corner is cut at an angle and every joint along a wall takes a little length, which is what the waste allowance covers. Closets, bay windows and wall jogs add their own perimeter: measure them along the floor and add them to the room length.
By Javier Miralles · Last updated . How this site is made.
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