Estimate wood post load, compression stress, slenderness ratio, buckling load, footing pressure, required bearing area, and simplified utilization. Use this wood post calculator for deck posts, porch posts, beam support posts, basement posts, pergola posts, timber posts, and preliminary structural planning.
Load estimate:
The calculator estimates wood post load from tributary area, dead load, live load, roof or snow load, beam reaction, point load, and post self weight.
Post section:
The calculator uses post width, depth, shape, and height to estimate area, weak-axis moment of inertia, and radius of gyration.
Compression and buckling:
The calculator estimates compression stress, compression capacity, slenderness ratio, and Euler buckling load.
Footing check:
The calculator estimates footing pressure and compares it with allowable soil bearing.
A wood post calculator helps estimate whether a post size may be reasonable for a vertical support load.
It can help compare post load, post size, compression stress, slenderness, buckling load, footing pressure, and required footing area.
Your result shows estimated tributary area, area load, total wood post load, compression stress, compression utilization, slenderness ratio, Euler buckling estimate, footing pressure, footing utilization, and required footing size. These are simplified planning estimates only.
Estimate the tributary area carried by the post, multiply by the design load, then add beam reactions, point loads, and post self weight.
Many dressed 6×6 posts are about 5.5 inches by 5.5 inches actual size, but actual dimensions can vary by product and supplier.
Wood post capacity can be controlled by compression stress, buckling, unsupported height, bracing, species, grade, moisture, load duration, bearing, and connections.
No. Final wood post design should follow local building code, deck tables, lumber species and grade rules, bracing requirements, footing requirements, connection hardware, and professional review when needed.