SpankyJ

I just introduced myself in the intro thread..but
Can you tell me what exactly boardfoot measurements mean and how do you calculate? I found a site that does calculations..but it came up with a figure like. 5.333334 ... I asked my son-in-law and he thougt it might be that a 2x4 is not actually 4 inches..its something like 3.??????

Help !

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labric

The lumber industry uses a standard form of measurement called the " board foot ".

One board foot is 1'-0" wide X 1'-0" length X 1" thick or 12" X 12" X 1"

All dimensional lumber is measured in their nominal sizes (size from which a piece of wood is cut, planned and/or sanded) thus calling a milled dimensional lumber which is actually 1 1/2" X 3 1/2" or its dressed size, by its nominal size which is 2 X 4.

To calculate the board footage of lumber the formula is L (length in feet) X W (width in feet) X T (thickness in inches).

If you use inches rather than feet you have to convert the numbers as follows:
A 2 x 4

2"(T) X 4"(W)/12 X 12"(L)/12 or simplified (2" X 4")/12 X 1' = .6667 bdft/lnft

and a 2 x 6

2"(T) X 6"(W)/12 X 12"(L)/12 or (2" X 6")/12 X 1' = 1.00 bdft/lnft.

I hope this answers your question.

Ric

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rprice54

it's basically square feet for 1" thick material- for example, you need two feet of 6" wide material to make one square foot (0.5 x 2=1)- assuming you're using 1" thick material.

FYI: you'll also see linear foot pricing for lumber. That just means take whatever width the wood is and you'll pay X amount per foot...

silvercreek

its Length x Width x Thickness divided by144