Linear Feet to Square Feet Calculator
Enter linear feet and the material width to calculate the total square footage of material. If you know how many square feet of material, enter that and the material width to convert to linear feet.
Result:
Joe is the creator of Inch Calculator and has over 20 years of experience in engineering and construction. He holds several degrees and certifications.
How to Convert Linear Feet to Square Feet
Before doing any calculations, it’s important to understand what linear feet and square feet are. Linear footage is a measure of length or distance, while square footage is a measure of area.
Because these are different types of measure, some additional information will be needed to convert between the two. For the calculator above, the material width is used in conjunction with length to calculate the area.
To convert linear footage to square footage, use the following area formula.
area = length × width
To use the formula, insert the linear feet measurement for length and material width for the width. If you’re stuck on how to find this, learn more about how to find linear feet.
For example, let’s find how many square feet of lumber there will be if there are 5 linear feet of boards that are 6″ wide.
Start by converting the width measurement to feet, so we have common units of measure.
ft. = 6″ / 12 = .5′
Now use the area formula to convert to square feet.
area = 5′ × .5′
area = 2.5 sq. ft.
How to Convert Square Feet to Linear Feet
To find how many linear feet of material is needed to cover a known square footage, the area formula will need to be reversed. Start by converting the material width to feet if it’s in inches. Then, use this formula to convert to linear feet.
To convert linear footage to square footage, use the following area formula.
length = area ÷ width
If you’re unsure how to find the area of a space, try using our square footage calculator.
For example, let’s find how many linear feet of hardwood flooring will be needed to cover a 120 sq. ft. room if the boards are 3″ wide.
Convert the width measurement to feet.
ft. = 3″ / 12 = .25′
Now convert to linear feet.
length = 120 sq. ft. ÷ .25′
length = 480 linear feet