Design your French cleat tool wall in seconds. Enter the wall size and cleat spacing to get a to-scale layout, the number of cleat rows, total linear feet, stud positions, and exactly how many sheets of plywood to buy — with a full cut list.
Use the area you want covered in cleats. Cleats start a few inches off the floor and stop below the ceiling in real builds.
Cleats must be screwed into studs. We mark stud lines on the layout and count screws at every stud, every row.
A French cleat is a strip of plywood ripped down the middle at 45°. One half mounts to the wall (bevel pointing up and into the wall), the other half mounts to your tool holder and hooks over it. One rip yields both mating halves.
Ripping strips from the 48″ dimension of a 4×8 sheet gives floor(48 ÷ strip width) strips, each 8′ long. A 3.5″ strip yields ~13 strips × 8′ ≈ 104 linear feet per sheet. We divide your total cleat length by that to get sheets.
Always screw cleats into studs — never drywall anchors alone for tool weight. With 3/4″ ply screwed to every stud, a single continuous cleat row easily holds 75–100+ lbs. We count two #8 x 2.5″ screws per stud per row.
Quantities are a starting bill of materials. Confirm against your final design and stud locations before buying.
45 degrees. A single 45° rip down a plywood strip creates both the wall cleat and the matching holder cleat.
Run them continuously (touching) for maximum holder positions, or leave a 1–2″ gap to use less plywood. This planner counts rows both ways — switch the spacing above.
With 3/4″ plywood screwed into studs, a continuous cleat wall holds well over 100 lbs per holder. The limit is usually your screws and studs, not the cleat.