Baseboard Calculator
Enter your room's perimeter and any openings to get linear feet of trim and a piece count from your stock length.
Pieces needed
4 pieces
Linear feet of trim
33.0 ft
At the defaults above (a 40 ft perimeter minus 7 ft of openings) that's 33 linear feet, or 4 pieces of 12 ft stock.
How it's calculated
Linear feet needed is the room's perimeter minus the width of any doorways or openings that interrupt the run. Piece count adds the standard waste allowance for corner cuts, then divides by your chosen stock length and rounds up to a whole piece.
Keep going
- New baseboard is usually installed right after new flooring; the flooring calculator sizes the boxes for the same room. Flooring Calculator
- In new construction, baseboard goes up after drywall is finished; the drywall calculator sizes sheets and mud for that step. Drywall Calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as an opening I should subtract?
Doorways and any wide, floor-to-ceiling archways that interrupt the baseboard run -- baseboard doesn't cross a doorway. A narrow decorative arch that still has wall/baseboard beneath it on both sides doesn't need to be subtracted.
Why round up to whole pieces?
Trim is milled and sold in fixed stock lengths, so a fractional piece isn't purchasable -- this calculator always rounds the piece count up to the next whole stock-length piece.
Should I buy 8 ft or 16 ft stock?
Longer stock (12 or 16 ft) means fewer seams on long, uninterrupted walls, but is harder to transport and maneuver in a small space. Shorter stock (8 or 10 ft) is easier to handle but creates more seams -- match the length to your longest unbroken wall run where possible.
Do closets need baseboard?
It's a matter of preference and budget -- many installers skip baseboard inside closets since it's rarely seen, but include it for a fully finished look or to match flooring transitions.
How much waste should corners add?
The 10% default here already accounts for standard mitered corner cuts on a typical rectangular room; a room with many corners or an irregular layout may need a slightly higher waste allowance.