Flooring & Tile Calculators
Tile and flooring are sold in boxes, and boxes don't forgive bad maths. These calculators count real grid layouts, grout gaps, cuts and waste included, so the last row isn't a second trip to the store.
Tile Calculator
Tiles and boxes to buy, with grout-gap spacing and cutting waste included.
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Grout Calculator
Pounds and bags of grout by tile size and joint width.
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Flooring Calculator
Boxes of laminate or vinyl plank for your room.
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Carpet Calculator
Square yards of carpet, allowing for roll width.
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How flooring quantities really work
Three different units run this aisle. Hard flooring (laminate, vinyl plank, engineered wood) is sold by the box, each covering a stated number of square feet, so the Flooring Calculator turns your room area plus waste into whole boxes. Tile is counted piece by piece on a grid: the Tile Calculator lays the tiles out by their size plus the grout gap, which is why two rooms of equal area can need different counts. Carpet plays by older rules: it's priced by the square yard (9 sq ft) and cut from a roll, usually 12 ft wide, so the Carpet Calculator works out the roll direction that wastes least.
The number DIYers most often get wrong is grout. Coverage is not a guess per bag: MAPEI's published chart ties it to tile size, tile thickness and joint width together: a 12 × 12 tile at a 1/4 in joint uses a 25 lb bag in about 191 sq ft, while small mosaics at wide joints can use many times more per square foot. Our grout calculator encodes that manufacturer chart directly.
Waste is the other lever. A straight layout in a rectangular room needs about 10% extra; diagonal layouts about 15%; patterned work (herringbone, borders, lots of cuts) around 20%. Those allowances are built into the calculators as presets, and they're the difference between finishing on Saturday and driving back to the store on Sunday.
Frequently asked questions
How much extra flooring should I buy?
Plan on 10% over the room's area for a straight layout, 15% for diagonal, and about 20% for patterned layouts or rooms with many cuts. Keep one unopened box afterwards for future repairs. Dye and production lots change.
Why does grout coverage change so much between tiles?
Grout fills joint volume, and joint volume depends on tile size, thickness and joint width together. Small tiles have far more joints per square foot, so they consume much more grout. The manufacturer's chart (which our calculator uses) captures exactly that.
How is carpet sold and measured?
By the square yard, cut from a roll. 12 ft is the standard width. You buy full roll widths, so room shape matters as much as area; running the roll the other direction sometimes saves a full strip.