How much baseboard do I need for a room?
Perimeter less the doorways, plus 10% for miters and mistakes — a 12x14 room takes four 16-foot sticks. The arithmetic, and lengths for every room size.
A 12' × 14' room takes 4 sticks of 16' baseboard.
46 ft 4 in of wall to cover once the doorways come out, 50 ft 11 5/8 in with 10% waste — so 4 sticks and 13 ft 3/8 in spare.
How that is worked out
- Perimeter first: (12' + 14') × 2 = 52' of wall.
- Take out the openings the trim does not cross — a 36" doorway and a 32" one here — leaving 46 ft 4 in.
- Add 10% for miters, offcuts and the piece you cut backwards: 50 ft 11 5/8 in. At 16' a stick that is 4 of them.
Baseboard by room size, two doorways taken out, 10% waste
| Room | Perimeter | After doorways | With waste | 16' sticks | 12' sticks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10' × 10' | 40' | 34 ft 4 in | 37 ft 9 3/16 in | 3 | 4 |
| 10' × 12' | 44' | 38 ft 4 in | 42 ft 2 in | 3 | 4 |
| 12' × 12' | 48' | 42 ft 4 in | 46 ft 6 13/16 in | 3 | 4 |
| 12' × 14' | 52' | 46 ft 4 in | 50 ft 11 5/8 in | 4 | 5 |
| 14' × 16' | 60' | 54 ft 4 in | 59 ft 9 3/16 in | 4 | 5 |
| 16' × 20' | 72' | 66 ft 4 in | 72 ft 11 5/8 in | 5 | 7 |
Worth knowing
- 10% is right for a simple rectangular room. A room with bay windows, alcoves or a lot of short runs wants 15% or more — every corner is two miters and every miter is an offcut.
- Longer stock means fewer joints in the middle of a wall, which is where a joint shows. Buy the longest sticks that will get into the room and up the stairs, not the ones that are easiest to carry.
- Cope inside corners rather than mitering them. A coped joint closes up as the house moves; a mitered one opens, and it opens where the light catches it.
- Scarf joints in the middle of a long wall, cut at 45° so one piece laps the other, and land them over a stud. A butt joint in baseboard opens within a season.
Work out your own numbers
- Baseboard calculator
Linear footage of flat trim for a room from its perimeter and its doorways, with a waste allowance.
- Miter angle calculator
The miter for baseboard, casing or chair rail at any corner angle — flat trim, so there's no bevel to set.
- Wainscoting layout
Even picture-frame boxes across a wall, drawn as an elevation with the cut lengths underneath.
Related questions
- How do I calculate how much baseboard I need?
- Add up the perimeter of the room, subtract the width of every doorway and opening the trim does not run across, then add 10% for miters and mistakes. Divide by the stock length and round up. Order by whole sticks — you cannot buy 43 feet of baseboard.
- How much extra baseboard should I buy?
- 10% on a plain rectangular room, 15% or more on anything with bay windows, alcoves or lots of short runs. Every corner costs an offcut, and a short run between two corners can waste most of a stick. Buy it all at once, too — profiles get discontinued and a later batch may not match.
- Should I miter or cope baseboard corners?
- Cope the inside corners and miter the outside ones. A coped joint has the second piece cut to the profile of the first, so it stays tight when the house moves and when the corner is not quite 90° — which it never is. Outside corners have to be mitered, and those are where measuring the actual corner angle pays off.