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Find how many pickets you need for any fence length.
With these inputs:
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Total boards | 351 |
| Usable Fence Length | 146.00 ft |
| Picket + Gap | 0.46 ft per picket |
| Pickets Needed (with waste) | 351 |
| Picket Cost | $1,053.00 |
Add 10% waste for cuts, breakage, and color matching.
The calculator subtracts gate openings from fence length, then divides by the combined width of one picket plus its gap. A waste factor is applied for cuts and damage.
Pickets = ⌈ ⌈(fence LF − gate LF) × 12 ÷ (picket width + gap)⌉ × (1 + waste %) ⌉ — round up to whole pickets, then add waste and round up again
Most pickets are 5.5" wide × 6 ft tall (nominal 1×6). Some styles use 3.5" wide pickets for a tighter look.
0" for solid privacy, 1/4"–1/2" for traditional spaced picket, or up to 1" for ranch / decorative styles.
Yes — shadowbox uses pickets on both sides of the rail, doubling the picket count for the same fence length.
With standard 5.5 inch dog-ear pickets butted tight, you need about 2.2 pickets per linear foot. With a 1/4 inch gap it drops to roughly 2.1, and with a 1/2 inch gap to about 2.0 pickets per foot.
Around 218 pickets butted tight, or about 200 with a 1/2 inch gap, using 5.5 inch boards. Add 10% for waste and rejected warped boards, so buy roughly 240.
Seventeen 5.5 inch pickets fill an 8 ft section with no gap, sixteen with a 1/4 inch gap, and fifteen with a 1/2 inch gap. Most fence panels are sold with 16 or 17 pickets for this reason.
Most lumberyards ship 6 ft dog-ear pickets in bundles of 100 to 120, with a full pallet running 200 to 300 boards depending on thickness. Confirm the count before ordering — pallet quantities vary a lot by supplier.
Enter your fence length above and set the gap to zero for a privacy fence. As a quick check, multiply your fence length by 2.2 and add 10%.
A pre-built 8 ft wide panel typically holds 16 or 17 pickets at 5.5 inches wide. Shadowbox panels of the same width hold about 22, since boards alternate on both faces.
A nominal 1x6 picket measures 5.5 inches, and a 1x4 measures 3.5 inches. Always calculate with the actual width, not the nominal one, or your board count will be short by roughly 8%.
Classic picket fences are 3 to 4 ft tall with 3.5 inch pickets spaced 2 to 3 inches apart on two rails. Privacy fences use 6 ft tall, 5.5 inch pickets with no gap and three rails.
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