Construction Topics
Comprehensive material guides — costs, formulas, best practices, and free calculators — for every major home construction project.
Concrete Guide
Calculate cubic yards, cubic meters, and the number of 40, 60, and 80-lb concrete bags for slabs, footings, and columns. Optional price input gives a full project cost.
Read guideGravel Guide
Calculate cubic yards and tons of gravel for driveways, patios, and drainage. Supports pea, crushed stone, and #57 — each with the correct density.
Read guideLandscaping Guide
Calculate cubic yards and bags of mulch for garden beds. Defaults to 3-inch depth and 2-cubic-foot bags — the most common retail size.
Read guideDrywall Guide
Calculate drywall sheets, screws, joint tape, and joint compound for a room. Subtract windows and doors for accurate totals.
Read guideTile Guide
Calculate tiles, boxes, and cost for floors, walls, backsplashes. Configurable tile size, box quantity, and waste percentage.
Read guideDeck Guide
Calculate deck boards, joists, and posts for any rectangular deck. Configurable board width, gap, and joist spacing.
Read guidePaint Guide
Calculate gallons of paint and primer for any project. Defaults to 350 ft²/gallon coverage and 2 coats — adjust for textured surfaces.
Read guideFence Guide
Calculate posts, rails, and pickets for any linear fence. Defaults to 8-ft post spacing and a standard 6-ft privacy fence.
Read guideLumber Guide
Calculate board feet, linear feet, and cost for any lumber order. Useful for framing, decking, trim, and pricing across suppliers.
Read guideFlooring Guide
Calculate planks, boxes, and cost for laminate, hardwood, or vinyl plank flooring. Configurable plank size and waste percentage.
Read guideRoofing Guide
Calculate squares, shingle bundles, and underlayment for pitched roofs. Includes pitch correction for accurate area.
Read guideMeasurement Guide
Work out the square footage of a room, wall, yard, or oddly-shaped area — rectangles, circles, triangles, and borders — then convert to square yards, square metres, or acres.
Read guideDriveway Guide
Estimate tons of hot-mix asphalt for a driveway, parking pad, or path from length, width, and compacted depth — with volume, weight, and cost.
Read guideSiding Guide
Work out board and batten counts for a wall — how many wide boards, how many battens, and the linear footage of each — accounting for overlap and openings.
Read guideMasonry Guide
Calculate how many concrete blocks a wall needs, plus the mortar bags and sand to lay them, with openings deducted.
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