Carpentry
Carpentry Calculators: Stairs and Fences
Calculators for the carpentry jobs woodworkers most often take on around the house: a straight stair and a wood fence. The stair calculator turns the total rise into risers, treads, run, stringer length and the framing-square settings for cutting the stringer, and checks each against the stair limits in the International Residential Code. The fence calculator turns the length and height of a fence into posts, rails, pickets, bags of concrete for the post holes and a lumber list in board feet. The deck calculator sizes a deck's joists, beam, posts and footings from the American Wood Council's DCA 6 tables and ends in a shopping list. The firewood cord calculator measures a woodpile in cords and face cords, what a truck bed holds, and what a cord weighs by species.
The code limits come from the IRC itself, the model code most US towns adopt for houses, with both the 2024 and 2021 section numbers. Rules of thumb such as post spacing, post depth and the comfort rules for stairs are labelled as traditional rules and name who states them. Concrete yields are each maker's own figure for its own bag. Your local building code and frost depth always come first, and every result says so.
Building cabinets or a counter? The standard base and wall cabinet sizes, counter and bar heights and the ADA limits are in the furniture dimensions reference.
Calculators
- Stair calculatorTotal rise in; risers, treads, run, stringer length, angle and framing-square settings out, checked against the IRC stair limits. Inches or mm.
- Fence calculatorFence length and height in: posts, rails, pickets with gaps, concrete bags per post (Quikrete, Sakrete yields) and a lumber list in board feet.
- Deck calculatorDeck size and height in: joist and beam sizes, post spacing, footings, ledger bolts, decking and a shopping list, read from the AWC DCA 6 span tables.
- Firewood cord calculatorMeasure a woodpile: cords (128 ft³, NIST Handbook 130), face cords at your piece length, ft³ and m³, what a truck bed holds and a cord’s weight by species.
- Workbench height calculatorHow high your workbench should be, from your own hand and elbow height and the work you do: planing, all-round or detail work, by named sources’ rules.
Reference
- Workbench guideHow high a work bench should be for planing, all-round and detail work, the face and tail vises a woodworking bench uses, and what we could not source.
- Stair code requirementsThe IRC’s residential stair limits: riser, tread, nosing, headroom, width, landings, handrails and guards, with 2024 and 2021 section numbers.
- Printable stair code chartThe IRC’s stair limits on one page: riser height, tread depth, nosing, headroom, width, landings, handrail and guard, with the 2024 and 2021 sections.
Other sections
- WoodSpecies and wood types: hardness, weight, movement, color and what each is good for.
- FinishingFinishes, glues and fillers: dry and cure times, which to use, and how they compare.
- JoineryJoints and how to size them: dovetails, mortise and tenon, rabbets, dadoes and more.
- Lumber & plywoodBoard feet, actual and nominal sizes, hardwood quarters, plywood sizes and grades.
- Tools & machinesSetup and choice for the table saw, miter saw, router, planer, jointer, lathe and CNC.
- Fasteners & drillingScrew sizes, pilot and clearance holes, countersinks and drill bit sizes.
- LearnShort beginner lessons with a quiz each: fractions, grain, milling, movement, finishes, joints.