If you want to move to another house, especially across the country, you should know how to calculate linear feet. You may not get used to this kind of measurement. Still, this information will be helpful. Thus, let’s find out what a linear foot is and why you should be familiar with it.
Why Is Linear Feet Important?
Before learning how to calculate linear feet, it’s necessary to explain why you need this type of measurement.
Moving can be quite expensive. There are various factors that influence the cost of transportation, including the distance, and the amount of furniture you want to move. You can cope with everything on your own or hire a reputable moving company to help you.
Companies may charge not only by weight or distance. In this case, the cost can be quite high, especially if it’s a long distance. There is an option to pay for the linear feet that your belongings and furniture take in the truck.
Thus, you don’t have to pay for an entire truck and the cost of the move will be lower.
PRO Tip: If you know how to calculate linear feet, you will save money while transporting your things.
What Is Linear Feet?
A linear foot is one foot that equals 12 inches. It’s called linear because you measure it in a straight line.
There are measuring tapes that have special markings both for inches and feet. If you have such a tape, there is no need to do any calculations. However, some measuring tapes show only inches. In this case, you will have to calculate how many linear feet your furniture has.
For example, your piece of furniture is 36 inches. All you need to do is to divide 36 by 12 and you get the proper result which is 3 linear feet.
What to do if your measurement is not divided by 12? For instance, your bed is 75 inches long. You need to do the following:
- By dividing 75 by 12, take the closest number that is divided by 12. In the case of the bed, it’s 6. So, we get 6 linear feet.
- Do some more calculations, in particular, 12 should be multiplied by 6. It equals 72.
- Then take 72 out of 75, and you get 3 inches that are left.
- Here is the result you need: 75 inches make 6 feet 3 inches or 6′3″.
How to Convert Linear Feet to Square Feet
We have considered how to calculate the linear feet of the bed. However, it refers only to the length. To find out how much space the bed will take in the truck, it’s necessary to know its square footage. And that’s the point when we will use linear feet measurement again.
Let’s continue measuring the bed whose length is 75 inches. It’s a standard double bed with the following dimensions: 54 inches (width) and 75 inches (length).
To calculate the square footage of the bed, we work with both measurements which are the length and the width. The length is 75 inches, and we already know that it makes 6′3″.
The width is 54 inches. We apply the algorithm mentioned above and get the following result:
- 54 is divided by 12, and we take the closest number which is 4 linear feet.
- 12 should be multiplied by 4. It equals 48.
- Take 48 out of 54 and you get 6 inches that are left.
- The result is 4 feet 6 inches (4′6″) or 4.5 linear feet.
Now you can calculate the square footage. Multiply 6′3″ (the length of the bed) by 4′6″ (the width of the bed) and get approximately 29 square feet. That’s the place that the standard double bed takes in the truck.
Why Measure Cubic Feet
Do you want to know how much space a moving truck has? You will have to get acquainted with such kind of measurement as cubic feet.
Why do you need this information? Moving companies offer various trucks for transporting furniture and other belongings. If you know the cubic footage of the truck, you can find out how much stuff you can put in it. Thus, you can avoid unpleasant surprises on a moving day.
How to Calculate Cubic Feet
For example, let’s take a 16-foot truck. Its length is 16 feet, its width is 7 feet 7 inches (7′7″), and its height is 6 feet 6 inches (6′6″).
We are interested in its floor space and loading space. To find out its floor space, it’s necessary to do the following calculations:
16 (the length) is multiplied by 7′7″ (the width) which is approximately 123 square feet.
Now let’s define its loading space. To do it, one should multiply all three dimensions, in particular, the length, the width, and the height. In the case of our truck, 16 is multiplied by 7′7″ and multiplied by 6′6″. The result is approximately 813 cubic feet. That is the loading space of the truck.
Now you also need to determine the cubic footage of everything you would like to place in this truck. And you already know how to calculate it. You measure the length, the width, and the height of the object, convert the measurements into linear feet and multiply three dimensions.
Let’s calculate the cubic feet of a fridge. The typical fridge may have the following dimensions:
- the height is 65 inches which makes 5 feet 5 inches (5′5″);
- the width is 36 inches, it is 3 feet;
- the length is 24 inches; thus, it is 2 feet.
All you need to do is to multiply 5,5 x 3 x 2 and you get the necessary result which is 33 cubic feet.
Use this algorithm to calculate cubic footage for all your furniture. And then you can define whether all your belongings fit in the moving truck with the chosen loading capacity or probably you will have to book a bigger one.
Thus, it’s important to learn how to calculate linear feet if you hire a moving company for transporting your things. On the one hand, you will save money because you will pay only for the place your furniture takes in the truck. On the other hand, you will define the necessary square and cubic footage and will be able to choose a proper truck for all your belongings.