Flooring calculator
Work out how much flooring to buy for one room or a whole house: the floor area, the waste allowance for the way it is laid, and how many boxes to order.
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Your rooms
How the flooring amount is worked out
Each room's floor area is its length times its width. The rooms are added together, then a waste allowance is added for the cuts at walls, doorways and the ends of rows.
The allowance depends on the pattern: 7% for planks or tiles laid straight, 15% on a diagonal, and 20% for herringbone or chevron, where far more pieces are cut. You can type your own allowance instead, for example if the installer asks for more.
If you enter what one box covers (it is printed on the box, usually in square feet), the total with waste is divided by it and rounded up to whole boxes, because you can't buy part of a box. Without it, the area is rounded up to the next whole square foot or square metre.
These are the same rules vPlan AR uses for the material takeoff of a scanned or drawn floor plan, so the calculator and a plan give the same answer for the same room.
Tips
- Measure wall to wall at floor level, not along the baseboard, and round up to the next inch.
- Split an L-shaped room into two rectangles and add each one as its own row.
- Closets count: add them as separate rows if the same flooring runs into them.
- Buy from one production lot and keep a spare box for future repairs.
Do this from a scan instead
Scan the room with a LiDAR iPhone or iPad, or draw it in the web editor, and vPlan AR measures the real floor outline, takes off stair openings and open-to-below areas, and lists the flooring per room with waste and boxes for every room at once.
Frequently asked questions
How much extra flooring should I buy?
For planks or tiles laid straight, about 7% more than the floor area. Diagonal layouts need about 15%, and herringbone or chevron about 20%, because many more pieces are cut. Rooms with lots of corners, closets or doorways can need a little more.
How do I calculate flooring for an L-shaped room?
Split it into two rectangles, measure each one, and enter them as two rows. The calculator adds the areas before adding the waste, so the total is the same as measuring the whole room.
How many boxes of flooring do I need?
Divide the area with waste by the coverage printed on the box and round up. Enter the box coverage in the calculator and it does this for you.
Does this work in square metres?
Yes. Switch the units to metric and enter lengths in metres; the result and box coverage are then in square metres.
Guides
- How to Work Out Flooring, Paint and Baseboard Quantities from a Floor PlanFlooring needs waste for its pattern, paint needs the doors and windows taken off each wall, and baseboard stops at every doorway. Here is how to work out all three from a floor plan, by hand and in vPlan AR.
- How to Generate a Repair Cost Estimate from a Floor Plan ScanTurn a LiDAR scan into a material takeoff and a line-item cost estimate. Tag the affected materials, apply your own unit prices, and export to PDF or CSV.