Flooring & Tile
Flooring Calculator
Boxes of hardwood, laminate or vinyl for any room — including the waste allowance installers actually use.
Inputs
Results
Adjust the inputs to see your result.
About this calculator
Flooring is sold by the box, and every box covers a fixed number of square feet. This calculator turns your room measurements into a box count, adding the 5–15% waste allowance needed for cuts, pattern matching and the occasional damaged plank.
What this number means
Flooring is sold by coverage, not by the plank, and no room is a perfect rectangle of full boards. The box count above is the number that matters at the store: it covers your measured area plus the offcuts, end joints, pattern matching and the odd damaged board that every installation produces.
The breakdown also shows the coverage you are actually paying for. Boxes are indivisible, so the purchased coverage is always a little above the buying quantity — that overage is your spare stock for future repairs, and it is worth keeping a box in the closet rather than returning it.
The formula
- Room area = Length × Width (dimensions converted to feet first: inches ÷ 12, metres × 3.28084)
- Buying quantity = Room area × (1 + waste %)
- Boxes = Buying quantity ÷ coverage per box, rounded up to the next whole box
- Estimated cost = Boxes × price per box, when a price is entered
Worked example
A living room in laminate. The room measures 12 ft × 15 ft, the laminate covers 22 sq ft per box, and the layout is a standard straight lay in a room with a closet and two doorways — 10% waste.
- Room area = 12 × 15 = 180 sq ft
- Buying quantity = 180 × 1.10 = 198 sq ft
- Boxes = 198 ÷ 22 = 9 boxes exactly (9 × 22 = 198 sq ft of coverage)
Set the calculator to 12 × 15 ft, 22 sq ft coverage and 10% waste and you will see exactly these numbers.
Assumptions and limitations
- One rectangular room per calculation. For L-shaped rooms, split them into rectangles, run each separately and add the boxes — or total the areas first and use the Square Footage Calculator.
- The waste presets assume boards run the length of the room. Diagonal and herringbone layouts genuinely need the full 15%.
- Underlayment, transition strips, stair nosings and skirting are not counted — they are sold separately and measured differently.
- Coverage per box varies by product and batch. Always read it off the box you are actually buying, not the product family's headline figure.
Frequently asked questions
Allow 5% for a simple rectangular room with a straight lay, 10% for a typical room with closets, doorways and cuts, and 15% for diagonal or herringbone patterns. When in doubt, round up — running short of a discontinued colour costs far more than one spare box.
Because stores sell whole boxes. 8.2 boxes of need means opening a ninth box, so the calculator always rounds up. The leftover boards are useful spares for future repairs, especially once a colour is discontinued.
Whichever your tape measure uses — the calculator converts to feet internally (inches ÷ 12, metres × 3.28084) because flooring coverage in the US is sold in square feet. Measure inside wall to wall, at the longest and widest points.
Yes, with one extra step: divide the room into rectangles, measure each one, add their areas, and enter the total as a single length × width with the same area — or simply run the calculator once per rectangle and add the box counts, which is slightly more conservative.
No. Underlayment is sold in rolls by its own coverage figure. A useful rule is to buy underlayment coverage equal to your buying quantity (area plus waste), since it is cut the same way as the floor itself.