Construction & DIY calculators

Tons of hot-mix asphalt for a driveway or lot from area, compacted depth and mix density, with cubic yards, compacted volume and delivered cost.

Board feet from thickness, width, length and quantity, with cost per board foot, nominal vs actual sizes explained and a table of common dimensional lumber.

Square feet, square yards and linear metres of carpet for a room or L-shaped room, allowing for roll width, seam placement and waste — with cost per yd², ft² or m².

Cubic yards of concrete for slabs, footings, round columns and stairs, plus 60-lb and 80-lb bag counts (Quikrete yields), weight and cost — with the math shown.

Deck boards, joists, fasteners and linear footage from deck size, board width, gap and joist spacing — with waste, cost and the layout that wastes the least.

Sheets of drywall for a room's walls and ceiling by sheet size, with joint compound, tape and screw estimates from USG rules of thumb, waste factor and cost.

Posts, rails, pickets and concrete bags for a fence from its length, post spacing and gates — Quikrete-based bag counts, picket spacing and a materials cost.

How many boxes of laminate, vinyl plank or hardwood to buy from room size, box coverage and a waste factor by layout pattern — plus total square feet and cost.

Cubic yards and tons of gravel, crushed stone, sand or topsoil for an area at a given depth, with material densities, 0.5 cu ft bag counts and cost per ton.

Inches of insulation to get from your existing R-value to a target, with bags, batts or sheets and cost — using DOE R-per-inch figures for ten materials.

Cubic yards of mulch for a bed at a given depth, how many 2 or 3 cu ft bags that is, and what bulk versus bagged will cost — with a coverage-by-depth table.

Gallons of paint for a room from wall length and height, minus doors and windows, for any number of coats and coverage rate — with ceiling, liters and cost.

Gallons of rainwater a roof collects per storm and per year, from footprint, rainfall depth and collection efficiency — with first-flush sizing.

Convert rise and run to roof pitch (x:12), degrees and slope percent, get the pitch multiplier, and turn a footprint into real roof area and squares.

Estimate the weight of snow on a roof from depth, area and snow density, in pounds per square foot and total tons, and compare it against your design snow load.

How many solar panels your house needs, from kWh usage, peak sun hours and panel wattage — with system size, annual production and roof area.

Square feet of a rectangle, circle, triangle or L-shaped room from your measurements, converted to square yards, meters and acres, with cost per square foot.

Risers, treads, exact riser height, total run, stringer length and angle from your total rise — checked against IRC R311.7 limits and the 2R+T comfort rule.

How many tiles and boxes you need for a floor or wall from the area, tile size and grout gap, with a waste factor for cuts and the work shown step by step.

Rolls of wallpaper for a room from wall size, roll width and length and the pattern repeat — the repeat is what really drives waste, and this shows how much.