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March 28, 2024

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What is a Board Foot

Home What is a Board Foot

What is a board foot?

Figuring out what a board foot is easiest explained when we start out with a square foot. Many of us know that a square foot is 1″ thick by 12″ wide by 12″ length. If you multiply the 12″ width by the 12″ length, you would get 144 inches. That is because there are 144″ in one square foot. When I do these calculations, I prefer to convert everything to inches first.

Here are some examples of a square foot calculation:
You have a board that is 1″ thick by 6″ wide and 96″ long. Multiple 6 times 96 divided by 144 equals 4 square feet. When dealing with one inch thick material, a square foot is exactly the same as a board foot!

So why do we use the board foot terminology? It’s a very good question. What if the board you are measuring happens to be 2″ thick? That would mean that you have more board footage than your square footage calculation.

Using the same example, based on a 1″ board we had 4 square
feet . But now the board is 2″ thick so we need to double the number to 8 (board feet). When dealing with any thickness over 1″ thick, the board foot terminology is very much needed.

If you have any questions about figuring board footage, please give me a call.