How Many Pickets Do I Need?

A 100 ft run with 3.5" pickets at a 1.75" gap needs about 229 pickets. With a 10% waste allowance, buy roughly 252.

The short count shows up mid-afternoon. You divide 100 by the picket face, forget the gap, and load two hundred sticks. The last bay still needs boards. The crew waits while someone makes a second store run for another bundle.

The picket formula is:

pickets = ceil(run length in inches ÷ (picket width + gap))

Use the actual board width, not the nominal stamp. Subtract gate openings before you divide. Then add about 10% for splits, crowns, and bad cuts. Estimate only — not engineering or building-code advice.

How many pickets for 100 feet of fence?

Convert the run to inches. One hundred feet is 1,200 in. A common 1×4 picket is about 3.5 in actual width. A 1.75 in gap between faces makes a 5.25 in pitch.

1,200 ÷ 5.25 ≈ 228.57 → round up to 229 pickets. That fills the open run face-to-face with no gate cut out. Add 10% waste → 229 × 1.10 ≈ 252. Buy the nearest full bundle over that number.

Tighter gaps need more boards. The same 3.5 in picket at a 1 in gap is 267 per 100 ft. Wider 5.5 in stock (a true 1×6 face) at 1.75 in gap drops to about 166. Measure one board from the stack before you trust the chart.

The formula, on a tape

Measure the fence length along the ground — on a slope, follow grade. Subtract every gate opening from that length so you do not order pickets for empty air.

• Length (in) = feet × 12
• Pitch = actual picket width + gap between faces
• Pickets = ceil(length ÷ pitch)
• Order ≈ pickets × 1.10 (waste)

Example: 80 ft wing, 3.5 in pickets, 2 in gap. Length = 960 in. Pitch = 5.5 in. 960 ÷ 5.5 ≈ 174.5 → 175 pickets. With 10% waste, order about 193.

In Fence Takeoff Master you enter runs, picket size, gap, and gates once. It returns posts, rails, pickets, and a quote-ready count on your phone. Free for a simple takeoff; Pro unlocks extras at $9.99.

Three mistakes that short the picket order

Forgetting waste. The net count assumes every board is straight, dry, and cut clean. Splits at the nail, crowns that will not sit, and one bad rip eat 5–15%. Ordering exactly 229 for a 100 ft run leaves you one short board from a second trip while rails are already hung. Buy the allowance. Leftover pickets are cheaper than a stalled crew.

Using nominal width instead of actual. A “1×4” is not 4 in wide. Dressed lumber is closer to 3.5 in. Divide by 4 and you under-order by roughly one board every eight feet. Always measure a sample from the bundle you will buy — kiln-dried, cedar, and vinyl faces differ.

Not subtracting gates. A 4 ft walk gate is four feet of fence that needs no pickets. Leave it in the run length and you buy boards for a hole. Split the tape at hinge and latch posts, count each wing, then add gate pickets only if the leaf itself is picketed (many gates are pre-built panels).

Gaps, privacy, and post bays

Gap is the clear space between picket faces, not centre-to-centre. Privacy fence often sits at 0–0.5 in (almost butt-tight) or a dog-ear shadow gap of about 1–1.75 in. Picket style with more open air commonly uses 1.5–3 in. Wider gaps cut board count and show more of the yard beyond.

Posts and rails still set the structure. Typical residential spacing is 6 or 8 ft on centre — see how many fence posts you need for the +1 end-post rule. Pickets fill each bay; they do not replace the post count. When a bay is short at the end of a run, you still fill that short bay — do not stretch the last gap past the look you sold.

Worked example with a gate

Frontage: 100 ft straight, 8 ft post spacing, one 4 ft walk gate near the middle, 3.5 in pickets, 1.75 in gap.

Picket length after the gate: 100 − 4 = 96 ft = 1,152 in. Pitch = 5.25 in. 1,152 ÷ 5.25 ≈ 219.4 → 220 pickets for the wings. Waste at 10% → order about 242. Gate leaf pickets are separate if you build the gate on site; a pre-hung gate panel needs none from this count.

Posts for that same frontage still follow the open-run / gate-wing rules in the posts guide. Concrete bags for those holes sit next door on the EBN Build Calculators hub. For a full posts-rails-pickets takeoff and PDF quote, open Fence Takeoff Master — or read the Fence Takeoff Master review.

These counts are estimates only — not engineering or building-code advice. Product span, wind, HOA gap rules, and local code can change spacing and board size. Measure the actual face. Subtract the gates. Order the waste.

Estimate only — not engineering or building-code advice.