Free cladding calculator. Rows, lineal metres and nails for weatherboard, with 10% wastage.
This calculator counts the rows, lineal metres and nails for weatherboard on a wall. The number that matters most on this page is cover width, and there is a reason it comes from where it does.
A weatherboard covers less than its nominal size, because it laps the board below it. This page takes cover from CostMate's own per-profile cover table (the same data a paid estimate uses) rather than from the size printed on the board.
The difference is not small. A radiata 150 by 25 bevel-back covers 110mm, not 150mm, so a 2.7m high wall is 25 rows rather than 18. Vertical cedar laps differently again (125mm on the same nominal board) which is why the profile list changes when you change the material.
Driving the options off the engine's table means this calculator and a paid estimate cannot drift apart, and a profile added to the engine appears here without anyone touching this page.
Four materials are offered (pine bevel-back, cedar vertical, cedar horizontal, and fibre cement) each with its own profiles and cover widths.
Openings are deducted by count and area from the net wall area, not from the board order, and CostMate's allowance of 10% for wastage is applied to the lineal metres.
Fixings come from the stud centres and the nails per board-to-stud crossing you set. Both are inputs, because fixing patterns vary with profile, with exposure, and with whether the cladding is direct-fixed or on a cavity.
Cavity construction, flashings and weathertightness detailing are design decisions. Check them against your plans, NZ Building Code E2 and the cladding manufacturer's system, and confirm cover widths with your supplier, before you order or fix.