How much flooring do I need?
Enter the length and width of the room and set a waste allowance — you'll get the area of flooring to buy and, if you add the coverage printed on the box, the number of boxes to order, instantly, in feet or metres. Works for laminate, vinyl plank, engineered and solid hardwood.
Enter the coverage printed on your flooring box to get the number of boxes to order. For a diagonal or herringbone layout, bump the waste up to about 15%.
Flooring to buy = floor area × (1 + waste), then ÷ the coverage per box, rounded up to whole boxes. The waste figure covers the offcuts at doorways, walls and around fixtures, which are rarely reusable. Buy the whole job — including the waste — in one batch so the colour and dye lot match, and keep a spare plank or two for future repairs. These are planning figures, not code values.
Common questions
- How do I calculate how much flooring I will need?
- Measure the room as length × width to get the floor area, add about 10% for waste, then buy that much flooring. A 12 × 12 ft room is 144 ft²; with a 10% waste allowance that is about 158 ft² of flooring to order. The same method works in metres: a 3.6 × 3.6 m room is about 13 m², or roughly 14.3 m² once waste is added. The calculator above does it in either feet or metres.
- How do I calculate how many packs of flooring I need?
- Flooring is sold by the box or pack, each labelled with the area it covers, so divide the area you are buying (floor area plus waste) by the coverage per box and round up to whole boxes. For example, 158 ft² of flooring at 20 ft² per box is 158 ÷ 20 = 7.9, which rounds up to 8 boxes. Enter the coverage printed on your box in the calculator and it returns the number of boxes for you.
- How much is flooring for a 1500 sq. ft house?
- For materials, take the area and add waste: 1,500 ft² plus 10% is about 1,650 ft² of flooring to buy, which is roughly 83 boxes at 20 ft² per box. The cost then depends entirely on the flooring you choose and your local prices — multiply the square footage by the per-square-foot price your supplier quotes, and add fitting if you are not laying it yourself. This calculator gives you the accurate quantity to price; it does not quote prices.
- How much does it cost to install 1000 square feet of flooring?
- The honest answer is that it depends on the flooring type and your local labour rate, so the reliable figure is the one your supplier or fitter quotes per square foot. Use this calculator to lock down the quantity first — 1,000 ft² plus a 10% waste allowance is about 1,100 ft², or roughly 55 boxes at 20 ft² each — then multiply that by the material price and add the installer's per-square-foot labour. We never publish a made-up price; the quantity is the part we can calculate exactly.
- How much extra flooring should I buy for waste?
- About 10% extra for a straight lay along the longest wall, around 15% for a diagonal layout, and up to 20% for a herringbone or chevron pattern, because the angled cuts at every edge produce offcuts you usually cannot reuse. Rooms with lots of doorways, alcoves or out-of-square walls also push the figure up. Round the result up to whole boxes, and keep a spare plank or two from the same batch for future repairs.
Want the full walk-through? Read the flooring guide →
Reference & education only. Not professional, engineering, or code-compliance advice. Estimates are based on published model codes; local amendments and your Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) govern. Always verify against the current adopted code and a licensed professional before doing work.
Last reviewed 2026-06.