How to work out how much flooring you need
- Choose Feet or Metres and enter the room’s length and width. For an L-shaped room, split it into rectangles and work out each one.
- Set the Extra for cuts: 5 to 10% for a straight lay, 15% for diagonal or herringbone.
- Enter the coverage per box from the packaging and, if you like, the price per sq ft or m². Read the area to buy, the boxes and the cost.
Measuring a room for flooring
Measure the length and width at the widest points, wall to wall, and round up to the next inch or centimetre. Include closets and alcoves that will get the same floor. Doorways where the floor runs through to the next room count too. For rooms that aren’t rectangles, the square footage calculator helps add up the parts.
Things the area doesn’t include
- Underlayment is usually sold by area too and covers the same space, without much waste.
- Transitions and trim: thresholds at doorways and skirting or quarter-round along the walls are bought by length. Measure the room’s perimeter for these.
- Acclimatising: wood and laminate makers often ask you to leave the boxes in the room for a day or two before laying, so plan delivery early.
For ceramic or stone tiles counted by the piece, use the tile calculator.