How the calculator works
Linear feet is the room perimeter minus 3 ft per door opening, plus 10% for the reality of trim work: every inside corner is coped or mitered, every outside corner eats length, and the short offcuts are rarely reusable. Sticks are that total divided by your stick length, rounded up.
Worked example: a 14 × 12 room has a 52 ft perimeter; minus two doors = 46 ft; plus 10% = 51 ft → four 16 ft sticks (with a healthy cushion) or five 12-footers... the calculator says 4 × 16 ft.
Planning the cuts
- One wall, one piece wherever possible. A 16 ft stick runs most residential walls without a splice.
- Splices: where unavoidable, use a 30° scarf joint over a stud, not a butt joint. Scarfs disappear under paint.
- Inside corners: cope one side rather than mitering both; coped joints stay closed when the wood moves seasonally.
- Order of install: start on the wall opposite the door (most visible), work around, ending where the eye lands last.
MDF vs wood
MDF is straight, cheap, and paints beautifully, the right answer for most painted baseboard. Choose solid pine or poplar where trim takes abuse (mudrooms) or might be stained, and PVC/composite in full baths and basements where water is a matter of when.