Charts
A calculator answers one question about the board in front of you. A chart answers forty at a glance, which is why the good ones end up taped inside a cabinet door. Every figure here is worked out by the same functions the calculators run on, so nothing on these pages can drift away from the tool it sits beside.
Crown molding angle chart
Miter and bevel settings for cutting crown flat on the saw table, for every common spring angle and corner. The last column is the single setting for cutting it nested against the fence.
Rafter length chart by roof pitch
The framing square's own numbers: inches of common rafter per foot of run, inches of hip per foot of common run, the slope in degrees, and the difference between one jack rafter and the next at 16" centres.
Roof pitch chart
Every common pitch as an angle, a slope multiplier and a framing-square figure, with whether asphalt shingles are allowed on it. The multiplier is what turns a footprint into a roof area.
Shingle coverage chart
Squares, bundles and nails for a simple gable roof, by footprint, at a 6/12 pitch. Three bundles to a square, whoever makes them.
Janka hardness chart by species
Side hardness in pounds-force, with density and stiffness alongside it, for the species a shop actually buys. Harder resists denting; stiffer sags less over a span — they are not the same thing.
Wood movement chart by species
How much a 12" board moves across the grain between a 30% winter and a 70% summer. Flatsawn moves roughly twice what quartersawn does, which is most of what this table is for.
Closet rod and shelf height chart
The heights a closet gets built to, floor to rod. These are convention rather than code — they come from what hangs without dragging.
Sheet goods weight chart
What a full 8×4 sheet weighs, by material and thickness. The number that decides whether this is a one-person lift.
Lumber size chart: actual thickness and width
What every common piece of softwood actually measures, against what it is called. A 2x4 is 1 1/2" by 3 1/2", and every cut list that assumes otherwise is wrong by the time it reaches the saw.
Inch fraction to decimal chart
Every sixteenth of an inch as a decimal and in millimetres. The conversion table for reading a tape into a calculator and back again.
Stair code quick reference
The 2021 IRC figures a residential stair is measured against, in one place. These are the model code — your inspector is the one who decides.
Stud count chart
Studs and plate footage for a plain wall with one three-stud corner and no openings, at both common spacings. Openings and extra corners go on top.
Drawer slide clearance chart
How much narrower than the opening a drawer box has to be, by slide type. Both sides together — this is the number you subtract once.
Cabinet door hinge chart
How many hinges a door takes and where they go, with a 3" setback from each end. Weight counts for more than height — add one before you think you need it.
Baluster spacing chart — balusters and gaps by span
Balusters and the gap they leave, by clear span, for 2x2 stock. Every row keeps the opening under the 4" sphere a guard has to refuse.
Board foot chart
Board feet in one board, by thickness, width and length. A board foot is 144 cubic inches — a foot square and an inch thick — and it is how hardwood is priced.
Concrete bag chart
How many bags a hole or a pad takes, by bag size. Rounded up, because a job half a bag short is a second trip.
Deck board chart
Rows, boards and screws for a rectangular deck in 5/4x6, boards running the long way with a 3/16" gap and 10% waste.
Pilot hole size chart
Pilot and clearance drills for every wood screw gauge, in hardwood and in softwood. The clearance column is the one people skip, and it is the reason a screwed joint sits with a gap in it.
Pocket hole screw chart
Screw length and thread by material thickness, with the jig and drill-stop setting that has to match it. Set the collar to the material, not to the screw.
Miter angle chart
The saw setting for a flat frame or ring of any number of sides, and for a corner that is not square. Every angle here is one cut on one end of one piece.
Tile quantity chart
Tiles for a square room, by room and tile size, laid centred with 3/16" grout and 10% waste. The counts run above floor area ÷ tile area, because every cut tile still costs a whole tile.
Paint coverage chart — gallons per room
Gallons for the walls of a square room with an 8-foot ceiling, one coat and two, with a door and a window taken out. Rolled, at 350 ft² to the gallon.
Dovetail angle chart
The three slopes in general use, as an angle and as the rise over run you set a bevel gauge to. Softwood takes the steeper flare, hardwood the shallower.
Nail size chart by penny
What each penny size actually measures, the shank diameter in all three families, and how many come to the pound. The classic wall chart, with the column that says where the penny formula stops being true.
Wall anchor weight chart
Rated capacity, one common size of each, hung flush against 1/2" drywall. One representative product per category — the number on the package you buy governs over this table.
VESA pattern size chart — TV mount hole spacing
Every standard VESA hole pattern, the millimetres it is named in and the same spacing on an inch tape, for matching a TV to a mount and marking the holes.
Tap and clearance drill chart
The drill for every machine screw thread a shop meets, the clearance hole for the piece the screw passes through, and what percentage of a full thread each one leaves.
Shelf span chart
The longest a shelf can span between supports before it sags past L/360, carrying 25 lb per running foot — about what a shelf of hardback books weighs. Sitting on supports rather than built in at both ends.
Mortise and tenon proportion chart
Tenon thickness and shoulder for any stock, by the rule of thirds, with the deepest a blind mortise should go into a given piece.
Compound miter chart for boxes and hoppers
Miter and bevel for a sloped-sided box of any number of sides — a planter, a hopper, a berry box — by how many sides it has and how far the walls lean from horizontal.
Screw and nail holding strength by species
Ultimate withdrawal load in pounds per inch of penetration, for a #8 and a #10 wood screw, a 16d common nail and a 3/8" lag. Laboratory loads, not design values — divide by five before you build to one.
Bolt spacing and edge distance chart
The minimum distances for a bolt through a timber, by bolt diameter — end distance in tension and in compression, edge distance, spacing along a row and between rows, and the hole to drill.
Door hinge placement chart
Where the hinges go down a passage door, by height and door type — hinge count, the size of butt hinge it takes, and the mark for the top of every leaf. Look up the door and read the marks.
All of them at once
Every chart above as one printable document — 34 tables, each starting on a fresh sheet, printed in one go instead of 34. Every chart stays free to read one at a time; and buying it pays for the site.