Flooring Calculator

Work out the floor area, add a waste allowance for cuts and mistakes, then round up to what the store sells. The flooring calculator above does it in four steps:

1. Area of each room: length × width. Split L-shaped rooms into two rectangles and add them.
2. Total: add every room, closets and hallways included.
3. Waste: total × (1 + waste %). The percentage depends on the material, the pattern and how many cuts the room needs.
4. Boxes: area with waste ÷ coverage per box, rounded up once for the whole job, not room by room. Carpet and sheet vinyl are ordered in square yards (sq ft ÷ 9).

In metric, measure in meters: 1 m² is 10.76 sq ft, and the same steps apply.

• Measure the length and width of each room at floor level, wall to wall, in feet and inches.
• Measure every space the new floor runs into: closets, a hallway, a nook. Add each as its own room.
• For an L-shaped room, draw it and split it into two rectangles that don’t overlap. Measure each one.
• If you only know the area (from a plan or listing), enter it directly. The calculator then can’t check carpet strips for that room.

Most guides say 10% extra for LVP, laminate, tile and carpet laid straight, and 5% for hardwood, which Bruce allows for cutting and grading. Diagonal and herringbone layouts waste more because every row ends in an angled cut.

Where the guides disagree. For straight LVP, FlooringClarity cites Shaw at 5–10% and Mohawk at 10%; we use 10%. For diagonal hardwood, the Bruce manual says 10% and most other guides 15%; we use Bruce’s 10%, so raise it if your installer asks. Herringbone ranges from 10% to 25% across sources; we use 15% for wood and 20% for vinyl, laminate and tile.

Divide the area with waste by the coverage printed on the box and round up. Coverage varies by product: LVP boxes run about 18 to 32 sq ft, with 20 sq ft common (FlooringClarity (opens in a new tab)), and one Bruce solid oak case covers 20 sq ft. We found no reliable typical size for laminate, engineered wood or tile, so the calculator asks for the number on your box.

12 × 15 = 180 sq ft. Straight-laid LVP takes 10% waste, so 198 sq ft. With the typical 20 sq ft box, 198 ÷ 20 = 9.9, rounded up to 10 boxes, plus one for repairs: 11 boxes. Typical installed cost: $1,290 ($710–$2,080).

A 14′ × 16′ living area with a 10′ × 8′ dining nook is 224 + 80 = 304 sq ft. Bruce gives 10% for diagonal installs, so 334.4 sq ft. In 20 sq ft cases that is 16.72, so 17 cases. Most other guides use 15% for diagonal, which would make it 18 cases.

195 sq ft plus 10% is 214.5 sq ft, or 24 sq yd. From a 15 ft roll, one strip covers it: a 14' 4" cut (13 ft plus the 10% allowance) is 24 sq yd, no seam. But a 13 ft wide room is wider than a 12 ft roll, so it takes two strips, each 12 ft wide and 13 ft long: 26' 0" off the roll, 35 sq yd, and a seam.

Carpet is priced by the square yard (9 sq ft) and cut from rolls, most often 12 ft or 15 ft wide. Because you buy full-width strips, a room slightly wider than the roll needs a second strip and a seam. The carpet calculator lays each room out in strips both ways, keeps the one that uses less carpet, and orders the larger of that and the area plus waste.

National ranges for 2026 put installed LVP at about $4–$12 per sq ft and solid hardwood at $10–$25. The calculator prices material on what you buy (whole boxes or the carpet order) and labor, underlayment and removal on the floor area. Type your own quotes to replace any line.

• Keep a spare box. FlooringClarity cites Lumber Liquidators’ advice to buy one extra box for future repairs. The calculator adds it by default for LVP and laminate.
• Round once. Rounding up room by room can add a box or two you don’t need. Add the rooms first.
• Check the box, not the website. Coverage per box changes between product lines, even from one brand.
• Let it acclimate. Most floors need time in the room before installation.