A 2x6 calculator is asked to do three different sums, and a page that does only one of them sends the framer back to the yard. The first is a wall: how many 2x6 studs and plates an exterior wall of a given length takes, which is the stud arithmetic with the deeper stud. The second is board feet: a 2x6 holds exactly one board foot per foot of length, so pricing and ordering by the board foot is a multiplication. The third is weight: a lift of 2x6 has to be lifted, and its weight depends on the species and how dry it is. This page works all three on a 20 foot exterior wall and a bundle of 12 foot stock, and the construction cost estimator on this site prices the result at your own rate.
The wall: 2x6 studs and plates for a 20 foot exterior wall
The stud count does not change with the stud's depth: a 20 foot wall at 16 inches on center is twenty times 0.75 rounded up plus one, sixteen studs in the run, and at 24 on center, which 2x6 framing often allows, ten plus one, eleven. What changes is the plate stock, since the plates are 2x6 too: a bottom plate and a double top plate is three runs of 20 feet, sixty feet of 2x6, ordered as five 12 foot pieces or four 16 foot pieces with the joints staggered. Corners add studs as on any wall, and an opening adds kings, jacks and cripples in 2x6. The stud calculator on this site works the openings; this page keeps to the 2x6 quantities and what they weigh and cost.
Board feet: one per foot, and what a bundle holds
A board foot is 144 cubic inches of nominal lumber, thickness times width times length in inches divided by 144. A 2x6 is 2 by 6 nominal, so a foot of it is 2 times 6 times 12 over 144, exactly one board foot. A 12 foot 2x6 is 12 board feet, a 16 footer is 16, and a bundle of forty 12 footers is 480 board feet. That is why 2x6 pricing by the board foot is the easiest in the yard: the board feet are the total lineal feet. The 20 foot wall above at 16 on center, sixteen studs at 8 feet plus 60 feet of plate, is 128 plus 60, 188 lineal feet and 188 board feet, before corners and openings. The board foot calculator on this site works the odd sizes where the factor is not one.
Weight: why the species and the moisture matter more than the size
A 2x6 weighs what its wood weighs, and the wood handbook linked below gives the density of each species green and dry. The practical range for framing stock is wide enough that a lift of kiln-dried spruce-pine-fir and a lift of green Douglas fir of the same count are very different loads, and a crew planning to carry or hoist a bundle should read the density for the stock actually delivered rather than a single figure from a calculator. The estimator on this site prints the lineal feet and board feet of the order; the weight is those feet times the density per board foot for the species on the ticket, which the handbook's tables supply.
The priced line, and keeping it against the job
A 2x6 calculator that stops at a count has done the easy part. The line that goes on the estimate is the count with waste, at the price per piece or per board foot the yard quoted this week, and it has to survive until the draw: a framing line estimated at one price and bought at another is a margin change nobody recorded. The construction cost estimator on this site takes the wall and prints the 2x6 quantities as a priced line at your figure, and DrawScheduleWorks Pro keeps the estimate's line beside the committed cost so the difference is visible when the invoice arrives, not at the end of the job. The species and grade the wall requires are a code question, and chapter 6 of the residential code linked below is where the wall construction rules live.
Questions people ask about 2x6 calculator
How many board feet is a 2x6?
One board foot per foot of length. A 12 foot 2x6 is 12 board feet, a 16 footer is 16. A bundle of forty 12 footers is 480.
How many 2x6 studs does a 20 foot wall need?
Sixteen in the run at 16 inches on center, eleven at 24, before corners and openings. Plates add three runs of the wall length, 60 feet of 2x6 for a bottom and a double top plate.
How much does a 2x6 weigh?
It depends on the species and the moisture content more than on the size; the wood handbook linked below gives the density of each species green and kiln-dried. Read the density for the stock on the ticket rather than a single number.