Fence calculator: how many pickets and posts do I need for a fence?
200 pickets
14 posts · 26 rails · 13 sections · for 100 ft
Run your own numbers
Enter it the way you measured it: 4.5, 4 1/2,
3/8 or 10' 6".
200 pickets
14 posts · 26 rails · 13 sections
100 feet of fence takes 200 pickets of 5 1/2 inches with a 1/2 inch gap, plus 14 posts at 8 foot spacing and 26 rails. Change the spacing and the gap to the ones you use.
A worked example
A 63 ft run at 6 ft 6 in post spacing, 3 rails per section, 3 1/2 in pickets with a 3/8 in gap needs 196 pickets, 11 posts and 30 rails. 63 feet is 756 inches, and each picket with its gap takes 3.875 inches, so 196 pickets. The run needs 10 sections, so 11 posts and 30 rails.
What else it is called
Pickets are also called boards or slats, and a section between two posts is a bay or a panel. A fence sold as ready-made panels is counted by sections, which is the third figure under the result.
Common sizes
| Fence length | 6 ft spacing | 8 ft spacing | 10 ft spacing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 ft | 10 | 8 | 6 |
| 75 ft | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| 100 ft | 18 | 14 | 11 |
| 150 ft | 26 | 20 | 16 |
| 200 ft | 35 | 26 | 21 |
Posts, counting the one that closes the run. Rails and pickets depend on your style.
Where the numbers come from
- The count is geometry on the five figures you enter. Pickets are the run in inches divided by one picket plus one gap. Posts come from the sections: the run divided by your spacing, rounded up, plus one to close it — that last post is the one that gets left out when the sum is done by hand.
- This page does not tell you how far apart to set your posts, how many rails to run or how wide a gap to leave. Those depend on your fence, your wind and your local code, and they are figures we would have to source before printing them. They are inputs here, not claims.
This counts the fence itself: pickets, posts and rails. It does not count gates, and it does not count the concrete for the post holes — that depends on the hole you dig, and the bag yield for it is on the concrete slab page, not here. A corner or a change of direction needs its own post, so add one for each.
By Javier Miralles · Last updated . How this site is made.
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