Free Tools by Jake
Interactive calculators, estimators, and references built by a licensed contractor for the homeowners and pros doing the work themselves. No signup, no ads, no data sent anywhere — every tool runs on your device.
Concrete Block Calculator
Blocks, courses, mortar bags, sand, core fill grout and joint reinforcement for any CMU wall — with doors and windows taken out, and a check on whether the wall lands on the 16 in by 8 in block module at all, which is the question every other block calculator skips. Printable material list, embeddable widget.
Open toolGrass Seed Calculator
Pounds and bags of grass seed for your lawn, using the published extension seeding rate for your actual species, new lawn or overseeding, and the purity and germination printed on your bag's tag — the pure-live-seed step every other calculator skips. Printable seeding plan, embeddable widget.
Open toolJoist Spacing Chart
Maximum allowable span for any joist size, spacing, species and grade, floor or deck, straight from the 2021 IRC tables, including 19.2 in o.c., deck cantilevers, and the spacing cap the decking itself imposes. Enter the span you need and every cell gets scored. Printable PDF, embeddable widget.
Open toolYards of Concrete Calculator
Add every part of the pour (slab, footings, piers, round pad, steps) and get one order: cubic yards rounded the way plants sell, bag counts for all four bag sizes, delivery weight, and whether it is a bag job or a truck job. Printable order sheet, embeddable widget.
Open toolTopsoil Calculator
Cubic yards to order, what the load weighs, how many bags, and how many truck trips it takes to get home. Eight job presets set the depth for you, and it runs backwards too: enter the yards or tons you have and see how far they go. Printable order sheet, embeddable widget.
Open toolStair Calculator
Riser height, tread count, total run, stringer length and the framing-square cut layout from one measurement — plus a pass/fail check against every IRC stair rule, the stringer throat, and how many stringers your width needs. Printable cut card, embeddable widget.
Open toolDrywall Mud Calculator
How much joint compound, tape, and screws you need — sized by GA-214 finish level (1–5), the lever every other calculator ignores. Room size, square footage, or sheet count; buckets to buy, printable shopping list, embeddable widget.
Open tool2x4 Actual Size — Lumber Dimension Chart
The real, dressed size of any 2x4, 2x6, 4x4, 1x board, or 5/4 decking — in inches, fractions, and millimeters — with a to-scale cross-section, board feet, estimated weight, and a printable nominal-vs-actual reference PDF.
Open toolLumber Calculator
Studs, plates, headers, joists, sheathing, and board feet for any framing project. Wall, floor, deck, or stock-piece pricing — multi-section, openings-aware, printable shopping list.
Open toolSod Calculator
Multi-shape sod, pallet, and delivery-weight estimator. Grass-type aware (Bermuda / Fescue / Zoysia / etc.), printable shopping list, embeddable widget.
Open toolRaised Garden Bed Soil Calculator
How much soil to fill a raised bed — cubic feet, cubic yards, and how many bags of compost, topsoil, and aeration. Rectangle / round / oval, multi-bed, bags-vs-bulk, mix recipes, printable shopping list.
Open toolFlooring Calculator
Vinyl, hardwood, laminate, or carpet — type-aware engine with waste %, carton or roll rounding, underlayment, transitions, fasteners, and printable shopping list.
Open toolTile Calculator
Multi-room tile, thinset, grout, and spacer estimator. Pattern-aware waste %, printable shopping list, embeddable widget.
Open toolFence Calculator
Posts, rails, pickets, concrete, and hardware estimator for any fence style. Multi-segment, frost-zone aware, printable lumber-yard shopping list.
Open toolBrick Calculator
Multi-wall brick + mortar bag estimator. Bond-pattern aware (running, English, Flemish, herringbone), 8 brick-size presets, openings subtraction, single/double wythe, printable mason's list.
Open toolRoof Square Footage Calculator
Total roof area, roofing squares, shingle bundles, underlayment, nails, and drip edge from your footprint and pitch. Multi-section (main + garage + porch), roof-type waste presets, printable shopping list, embeddable widget.
Open toolShingle Calculator
How many bundles to order, using your actual shingle's published coverage instead of the "3 bundles per square" rule of thumb that under-orders Owens Corning Duration, IKO Marathon and every designer line. Starter, ridge cap, drip edge, underlayment and nails on the same list. Printable order sheet, embeddable widget.
Open toolMetal Roofing Calculator
Panels, screws, ridge cap, eave drip, rake trim, foam closures, and underlayment estimator for any pole barn, garage, cabin, or house roof. Profile-aware (R-Panel / 5V / Corrugated / Standing Seam / Ag-Panel), multi-section, pitch-aware, printable shopping list.
Open toolRetaining Wall Calculator
Full BOM for a segmental retaining wall — blocks, caps, base aggregate, drainage gravel, drain pipe, filter fabric, adhesive, and geogrid. Multi-segment, 4-ft engineer-required threshold built in, total delivery weight, printable build list.
Open toolSonotube Calculator
Full concrete pour plan for Sonotube footings — volume, 60 / 80 lb bag count, tube count by diameter, #4 vertical rebar, #3 tie rings, and total delivery weight. Multi-pier groups, climate-region frost-line gate built in, printable pour plan PDF.
Open toolPool Gallon Calculator
Volume in gallons + liters + m³ for six pool shapes (rectangle, round, oval, kidney, L, freeform) with sloped depth on every shape. Plus fill time at garden-hose GPM, drain time at sump-pump GPM, refill cost, and start-up chemical doses.
Open toolPressure Washer PSI, GPM & Nozzle Calculator
Enter your machine's PSI and GPM for its cleaning power (PSI × GPM), the exact nozzle orifice size to buy, and the right spray tip for cars, decks, siding, concrete, and more — with a warning when the pressure is too high for the surface. Built-in bucket-test GPM helper, printable setup card, embeddable widget.
Open toolR-Value Insulation Chart
Find the R-value of any insulation by material and thickness, then check it against the recommended level for your climate zone or state. Live for attics, walls, floors, crawlspaces, and basements — with R-per-inch + by-zone reference tables, printable PDF, and embeddable widget.
Open toolR-Value Calculator
Stack the insulation layers in any wall, attic, or floor and get the combined total R-value and U-factor. Add materials by thickness or known R, optional air films, climate-zone code check, printable layer-by-layer PDF, and embeddable widget.
Open toolBTU Calculator
Cooling AND heating BTU for any room in one pass — with the window-AC class, mini-split head, central tonnage, furnace input size (80/96% AFUE), and space-heater wattage that covers it. State → climate-zone aware, room presets, watts ↔ BTU converter, printable sizing PDF, embeddable widget.
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