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Flooring Calculator
Measure one or more floors, add a waste allowance, and estimate how many boxes to buy and what the materials will cost. Use feet and inches or metric units.
Calculate floor area and material quantities
How much flooring do I need?
- Measure the floor. Calculate the net area of each room, including any added sections and deductions.
- Allow for waste. Enter the extra percentage appropriate for your product and installation.
- Check the packaging. Enter the coverage printed on one box to round up to whole boxes.
- Add your material price. Use a price per square foot, square meter or box. The estimate uses the quantity you will actually buy.
For this estimate, select only floors that will use the same product. Calculate another product separately.
Estimate materials for your floors →Measure your floor area
For a rectangular floor, measure length A and width B. Multiply the two measurements after converting them to the same units.
Floor area = length × width
A 12 ft × 10 ft floor has an area of 120 sq ft. In meters, length × width gives square meters.
Use Add another floor area for a separate room. Use Add section for an alcove or another part of the same floor, and Subtract section for an area you are leaving out. Keep added sections from overlapping.
L-shaped floors: remove the missing corner once
Measure the full outside rectangle, A × B. Then measure the missing corner, C × D.
Floor area = A × B − C × D
The L-shaped option already subtracts that corner. Use a separate deduction only for something else you need to exclude.
What should I include?
Include every floor surface that will receive this material, such as a matching closet or alcove. Subtract an area only if your flooring will not cover it. Movable furniture is not automatically a deduction.
Keep a room’s sections with that room so you can check each net area before estimating a purchase.
Calculate square footage with feet and inches
Convert the inches in each measurement to a fraction of a foot before multiplying. Divide inches by 12, then add the whole feet.
12 ft 6 in = 12 + 6 ÷ 12 = 12.5 ft
12.5 ft × 10 ft = 125 sq ft
In the calculator, enter 12 in the ft box and 6 in the in box for the first measurement. Enter 10 ft for the second. The calculator handles the conversion.
- For inches only, leave ft blank.
- For decimal feet, choose Feet (ft) for a single input, such as 12.5. In ft + in mode, leave in blank or enter 0 when using decimal feet.
- For fractional inches, enter a value such as 6 1/2 in.
Example measurements are separate from your own.
Allow for cuts and waste
The waste allowance adds extra material to the net floor area. It does not change your measured floor size.
Required area = net floor area × (1 + waste % ÷ 100)
The calculator starts with an editable 10% allowance. This is a starting value, not a rule for every product or layout. Check the product instructions and your installer’s requirements before ordering.
For example, 120 sq ft with a chosen 10% allowance requires 132 sq ft. You may need to buy more after rounding to whole boxes.
Use the coverage printed on the box
Enter the area covered by one box, rather than one plank or tile. Use square feet in imperial mode and square meters in metric mode.
Boxes to buy = round up(required area ÷ coverage per box)
If you need 132 sq ft and each box covers 20 sq ft, 132 ÷ 20 = 6.6. Buy 7 whole boxes, covering 140 sq ft. The extra 8 sq ft comes from box rounding, on top of the chosen waste allowance.
Leave coverage blank when buying by area. This calculator does not plan roll widths, seams, cutting layouts or individual tile sizes.
Flooring material cost: a complete example
12 ft × 10 ft floor, 10% example waste, 20 sq ft per box
- Net floor area
- 120 sq ft
- Required including waste
- 132 sq ft
- Whole boxes to buy
- 7 boxes
- Purchased coverage
- 140 sq ft
At an example price of $5 per sq ft: 140 × $5 = $700.
At an example price of $100 per box: 7 × $100 = $700.
Material cost uses the purchased quantity. Tax, delivery, floor preparation, underlayment, trim and installation are not included unless they are part of the product price you enter.
Example measurements and prices are separate from your own.
Flooring calculator questions
Why is the purchase area larger than my floor?
The purchase area includes your chosen waste allowance and, when coverage per box is filled in, the extra coverage from buying whole boxes. Your net floor area stays unchanged.
Can I add several rooms?
Yes. Measure each room separately and choose the completed areas that use the same product. Whole-box rounding is applied once to their combined required area.
What if one room is not finished?
A new incomplete area cannot be selected for materials. If an area already in your estimate becomes incomplete, that estimate pauses until you finish it or explicitly remove it.
Can I use this for carpet or sheet flooring?
You can measure the floor area. This calculator does not calculate roll widths, seams or pattern matching, so an area estimate alone is not a cutting or ordering plan for roll materials.
Where are my previous measurements?
Drafts are stored in this browser. When you open this page, a previous-calculations prompt lets you choose a saved draft or start new. Starting new keeps your previous drafts and leaves the inputs blank; only choosing a draft or explicitly continuing a calculation fills them.
Content updated October 16, 2026.