Free board and batten layout calculator. Enter your wall dimensions and batten width to get symmetric, auto-evened spacing plus a material cost estimate for battens and optional trim rails.
Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software
Use before buying lumber for an accent wall — it locks in a symmetric layout and gives you a shopping-list cost so you're not guessing at the hardware store.
Online spacing calculators often only handle the geometry. This one adds a material cost estimate in the same step.
Space 9 battens 12.15" apart (including the gap before the first and after the last) for a symmetric look across a 144.0" wall.
Battens needed = wall width ÷ (batten width + target gap), rounded to the nearest whole batten.
The actual gap is then recalculated so the leftover wall width divides evenly into a gap before the first batten, between every batten, and after the last — keeping the layout symmetric.
Material cost = battens × (wall height in feet) × cost per linear foot, plus an optional top/bottom trim rail priced at twice the wall width in feet.
Equal spacing (what this tool computes) centers the pattern symmetrically on the wall, so the gap before the first batten matches the gap after the last one. A fixed reveal gap is simpler to cut but often leaves an uneven sliver at one end of the wall.
Most accent walls look balanced with battens spaced 12–16 inches apart on-center, which is why the target gap defaults to 14 inches. Wider spacing reads as sparse; narrower spacing pushes material cost up quickly.
This tool gives you the even-spacing starting point for the whole wall, but it can't know where your outlets are. Shift one or two battens by an inch or two by hand so a vertical board doesn't land directly on a switch plate — small manual nudges rarely throw off the overall symmetry.
Input
144" wide × 96" tall wall, 2.5" battens, 14" target gap, $3.50/ft batten cost, trim rail on at $1.75/ft.
Output
9 battens at a 12.15" actual gap, $294 total ($252 battens + $42 trim).
144 ÷ (2.5 + 14) ≈ 8.73 rounds to 9 battens. Actual gap = (144 − 9×2.5) ÷ 10 = 12.15". Batten cost = 9 × (96/12) × $3.50 = $252; trim = 2 × (144/12) × $1.75 = $42.
Batten layout works from the wall width, the batten width and the number of bays, and the usual mistake is to pick a spacing first. Doing it that way leaves an odd bay at one end, which is the single most visible way the job reads as amateur.
Working backwards from a whole number of equal bays produces a spacing that is rarely a round number, and that is correct — the eye reads equal bays and never notices that they are 14.7 inches.
Real walls have obstacles: outlets, switches, vents and windows all interrupt the field. Centring a batten on an outlet or landing one half-over is worse than adjusting the whole layout, so plan around the fixed points before dividing the remaining space.
Corners and door casings also consume width that is not available for bays. Measure the actual field between trim rather than the nominal room dimension, and check the wall is plumb — a wall out of square makes the end bays visibly unequal even when the arithmetic was right.
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