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The total horizontal length of the railing run.
Measure each straight railing section and add them together for multiple runs.
How many horizontal cable lines span the railing height.
Most codes require gaps small enough that a 4 in sphere can't pass through, which typically means 8-10 cable runs for a standard 36-42 in railing height.
Cable length needed
193 linear ft of cable
Cable is typically ordered as one continuous run per line with a tensioner at one end — the 10% allowance covers end fittings and tensioning hardware takeup, not extra cuts.
- Cable before waste allowance
- 175.5 linear ft
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Cable Railing Calculator: 193 linear ft of cable — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Total cable length = railing run length x number of horizontal cable runs, since each run spans the full length of the railing
Inputs used
- Railing Run Length
- 19.5 ft
- Number of Horizontal Cable Runs
- 9
Intermediate steps
- Cable before waste allowance
- 175.5 linear ft
Confidence note: Cable is typically ordered as one continuous run per line with a tensioner at one end — the 10% allowance covers end fittings and tensioning hardware takeup, not extra cuts.
What this calculation does not cover
- Railing Run Length is treated as a flat horizontal measurement and multiplied straight through, so a stair-side run whose cables follow the stringer comes up short unless you enter the sloped distance rather than the horizontal one.
- The 10% is applied as a straight percentage of the length, so the spare grows on a long deck and thins on a short one, while the takeup it stands in for happens a fixed number of times — twice per cable, at its ends.
- Several straight sections summed into one length give the right total footage but assume cable carries on around corners; each section is really terminated at both ends, and the answer never says how the total divides between individual lines or spools.
- The number of horizontal runs is taken as given anywhere from 3 to 15 and is never checked against a railing height, because no height is asked for — nothing here confirms your chosen run count closes the infill gaps at the height you are actually building.
- Sag and post spacing sit outside the arithmetic entirely: the length is the straight end-post-to-end-post distance, with nothing added for intermediate post passes, mid-span sag, or the extra pull needed to tension a long line.
Estimated cost — your price
This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.
Part of a bigger job
Or plan the space itself: measure it once, doors and windows included, and this figure comes back worked out on that space, with what goes with it.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-05 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.1
Regulatory standards & verification citations1
- Total cable length = railing run length x number of horizontal cable runs, since each run spans the full length of the railing
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