MEASURE. ESTIMATE. BUILD.
Count pickets for a wood privacy fence.
Change any measurement to update your estimate.
Enter fence length and picket width (with or without a gap) to get the number of pickets per section and in total.
Picket count depends on picket width and the gap you leave between them — a spaced picket fence uses far fewer than a tight privacy run. This view takes fence length and picket width to count pickets per section and overall.
Set your corner and end posts first, string a line between them, and space the rest to that line — eyeballing post spacing leaves a fence that waves. Dig post holes about a third of the post height deep and below your frost line, or a winter heave will lift them. Budget one to two bags of fast-setting concrete per post; the calculator counts sections, but the hole depth is what holds the fence up.
The math behind the tool:
posts = ceil(length ÷ spacing) + 1
sections = posts − 1Sources: American Wood Council (wood post and rail spans).
Divide the fence length by the post spacing (commonly 8 ft) and add one for the end post. A 100 ft fence at 8 ft spacing needs about 14 posts.
A typical 4×4 post in a 10-inch-wide, 2-foot-deep hole uses about one to two 50 lb bags of fast-setting concrete per post.