Baseboard & Skirting Board Calculator

How much baseboard or skirting board you need: room perimeters less doorways, extra for joints, and the number of 8, 12 or 16 ft (or 2.4 to 5.4 m) lengths.

Baseboard (skirting board in the UK and Australia) runs around the walls of a room, stopping at doorways. A 12 × 10 ft room is 44 ft around; leave out a 3 ft doorway and add 10% for joints and corner cuts and you need about 45 ft, which is six 8 ft lengths or four 12 ft lengths. Enter your rooms or walls, the doorways and the lengths sold where you are (8, 12 and 16 ft in the US; 2.4, 3.0 and 4.2 m in the UK; 2.4, 3.6 and 5.4 m in Australia) and the calculator gives the lengths to buy, the inside corners and the cost.

Units
Bag sizes
Measure by
Room
ft
ft
ft
Feet and inches work too: type 12'6 or 12.5.
Doorways to leave out
ft
%
Lengths to buy
6

8 ft each

Run
41 ft

45.1 ft with extra

Inside corners
4

4 per rectangular room

How it was worked out
  1. Room: 2 × (12 + 10 ft) = 44 ft around
  2. Less 3 ft of doorways = 41 ft
  3. Plus 10% for joints and corner cuts = 45.1 ft
  4. 45.1 ft ÷ 8 ft lengths = 5.64, rounded up to 6 lengths

Buying lengths at least as long as your longest wall avoids joins in the middle of a run. The same sum works for crown moulding, coving, picture rails and quarter round.

Common use cases

  • Buy baseboard or skirting for a new floor
  • Replace old skirting in one room or a whole house
  • Work out crown moulding, coving or picture rail the same way
  • Price MDF against timber skirting

How to use

  1. Enter each room's length and width, or switch to Wall for single runs.
  2. Enter the number of doorways and their width.
  3. Choose the length sold and the extra for joints and cuts.
  4. Read the lengths to buy, and add a price per length for the cost.

FAQ

How do I measure for baseboard?

Measure the length of every wall the baseboard will run along and add them up, then take off the doorways. For a rectangular room that's 2 × (length + width) minus the doors.

How much extra baseboard should I buy?

About 10% covers mitres, coped corners and the odd bad cut. Buy lengths at least as long as your longest wall where you can, so runs don't need joins in the middle.

How are inside corners joined?

Many carpenters cope inside corners (cut one board to the profile of the other) because coped joints stay tight as walls move; outside corners are mitred. Either way, allow extra for test cuts.

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