The decking calculator can help you determine the number of decking boards and fasteners needed. It is also a tool for estimating the cost of building a deck (mainly focusing on deck flooring).
Imagine yourself sitting on a wooden porch on a warm, sunny Sunday morning, sipping tea, reading a book, and taking in those sweet summer smells. You have the space to take many of your activities outside and can even throw a terrace party for your family and friends. A deck can be a great extension to your house and can bring more hygge into your life, but we’ll stop with the romanticism – how much does it cost to build a deck?
The decking calculator can help you answer this question. In the following article, you will find information about the deck’s components, the different types of decking materials, and instructions on using the deck cost calculator.
We would also recommend working on the ambiance – planting some flowers next to your deck or maybe building a pool to cool down in during hot summer days.
How does the decking calculator work? – An example
If you want to know what equations the deck cost calculator uses or want to calculate the cost yourself, read the example below:
- Let’s say you want a deck that is 20 ft long and 13 ft wide. To calculate the square footage of the deck, multiply the two numbers together:
20 ft × 13 ft = 260 ft² - You chose a board that is 8 ft long and 6 in wide. Convert the width from inches to feet – simply divide the value by 12:
6 in / 12 = 0.5 ft - Let’s calculate the square footage of one decking board:
8 ft × 0.5 ft = 4 ft² - Now, we can calculate the number of decking boards needed. We divide the deck square footage by the board square footage and add 10% to account for waste:
260 ft²/ 4 ft² × 1.1 = 71.5Let’s round the result up (it’s better to have more than less) – we’ll need 72 boards.
- For calculating the number of screws (or nails) needed, we follow the rule of thumb that you need 350 screws for every 100 square feet of decking. If we divide those values by 100, we can say that we need 3.5 screws for 1 square foot.That means that the number of screws is 3.5 times larger than the number of square feet of decking. The equation would be:
s = 3.5 × dors = 7/2 × dTo know the number of screws, multiply the square footage of your deck by 7/2:
7/2 × 260 = 910Choose a pack with the number of screws closest to the value we calculated (remember you need to have more rather than less).
The closest number our distributor offers in a pack is 1000, and its price is
£98. - If you go for hidden fasteners, you’ll need half the number of the screws:
7/4 × 260 = 455In this case, the hidden fasteners we need are available in a pack of 500.
- To know the total cost of the boards, we need to multiply the price of one board by the total number of boards. If one board costs
£7:72 × £7 = £504The boards will cost
£504. - To know the cost of decking, let’s add the price of the pack of screws to the price of boards:
£504 + £98 = £602The total cost of deck flooring is
£602.
