How much flooring you need starts with a total square footage, and that is a sum, not a single measurement. Most homes have more than one room that will carry the same floor, and each one gets measured on its own.
Room area = length × width
Total area = sum of every room
Area to buy = total area × (1 + allowance)
Three rooms, one floor
A living room of 15 × 12 ft, a bedroom of 10 × 8 ft and a 5 × 5 ft hallway add up to 285 sq ft. Adding a 10% allowance for cuts brings the figure the planner works from to 313.5 sq ft.
Worked example Three rooms totalling 285 sq ft, 22.4 sq ft per box
| Material | Calculated | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| Flooring10% cutting allowance, 22.4 sq ft per box | 14 boxes | 14 boxes |
The hallway is easy to forget and matters: it is nearly a tenth of the total. Measure every space the floor continues into, including closets if the flooring runs through them.
What to leave out
Subtract an area only when the flooring will not go there for good: a fixed kitchen island, built-in cabinets, a tub surround. Leave a doorway’s few inches alone. Rounding to whole boxes will usually absorb it, and the allowance is there for cuts at thresholds and edges.
What changes the estimate?
- Whether the floor continues through closets, hallways and alcoves
- Fixed items the flooring will stop at
- The allowance you choose for your layout
- Box coverage, which differs between products even in the same line
From square feet to boxes
Flooring is sold by the box, with the coverage printed on it. The planner divides the required area by that coverage and rounds up, so here the calculation shows 14 boxes and the list says 14 boxes. The boxes guide goes through how the coverage figure changes that count.
If you have not chosen the product yet, enter only the room sizes and the planner returns the area to buy, ready for you to divide once you know the box.