Skirting board calculator: how much skirting board do I need?
The perimeter minus the door openings, split wall by wall into whole boards, with the offcut, the internal corners, the end caps and the joints.
Skirting board calculator
Each wall is cut from whole boards; an offcut moves on to the next wall when it is long enough.
the gap between the door frames, where no skirting board runs
the length the skirting board is sold in
You need
Enter the length and width of a room.
Skirting board needed by room size
Rectangular rooms with one door of 90 cm, in boards of 2.4 m:
| Room | Skirting board | Boards of 2.4 m | Offcut |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 × 3 m | 11.1 m | 5 | 0.9 m |
| 4 × 3 m | 13.1 m | 6 | 1.3 m |
| 4 × 4 m | 15.1 m | 8 | 4.1 m |
| 5 × 4 m | 17.1 m | 8 | 2.1 m |
| 6 × 4 m | 19.1 m | 9 | 2.5 m |
| 6 × 5 m | 21.1 m | 9 | 0.5 m |
Computed wall by wall with the calculator above. No spare board included.
Worked example: a 5 × 4 m room with one door
- Perimeter 2 × (5 m + 4 m) = 18 m, minus one door opening of 90 cm: 17.1 m of skirting board.
- 17.1 m ÷ 2.4 m = 7.1, but cut wall by wall the walls take 8 boards (19.2 m): the pieces left over from the long walls are too short for the next wall.
- 2.1 m of that is offcut.
- 4 internal corners, 2 end caps at the door and 4 joints where a wall is longer than one board.
- Add one spare board for a miscut.
Laying the floor first? The laminate flooring calculator works out the packs, and the guide how to install skirting boards covers the expansion gap, the corners and the fixing.
Frequently asked questions
- How much skirting board do I need for a 4 × 3 m room?
- About 13.1 m with one 90 cm door: the perimeter of 14 m minus the 0.9 m opening. In 2.4 m lengths that is 6 lengths (14.4 m), with 1.3 m of offcut and 3 joints. Add one spare length for a miscut.
- How do I calculate skirting board?
- Add up the length of every wall, 2 × (length + width) in a rectangular room, and take off the width of each door opening, because no skirting board runs across a threshold. Then go wall by wall: a wall longer than one board needs a joint, and an offcut only counts if another wall can use it. The calculator does this cut by cut, with a 5 mm (3/16 in) saw cut between two pieces from one board.
- How many lengths of skirting board should I buy?
- Not simply the metres divided by the length. The 5 × 4 m room with one door needs 17.1 m, which is 7.1 lengths of 2.4 m, but the walls take 8 lengths, because the pieces left over from the long walls are too short for the next wall. Split wall by wall, then round up, and keep one spare length.
- Do I need corner pieces, end caps and connectors?
- That depends on the skirting board. Wooden skirting board is cut at an angle in the corners and needs no extra parts; plastic and many pre-painted systems use internal corners, external corners, end caps and connectors. A rectangular room has 4 internal corners, each door opening gives 2 ends, and each joint between two lengths takes one connector. External corners, around a pillar or a chimney breast, come on top.
- Do longer lengths mean less waste?
- Fewer lengths and fewer joints, not always less offcut. The 5 × 4 m room with one door takes 8 lengths of 2.4 m with 4 joints and 2.1 m of offcut, or 7 lengths of 3 m with 3 joints but 3.9 m of offcut. The most offcut is left where a wall is just over one length.
Read the skirting board off your floor plan
Upload your floor plan and the free planner works out the exact packs and waste before you order.
create a layout planFigures computed with the calculator on this page: rectangular rooms, doors in the middle of a wall, a 5 mm (3/16 in) saw cut.