HowMuchIt / Flooring
How much flooring do I need?
Measure the floor, add the extra your kind of floor needs for cuts, and divide by what one box covers. The extra changes with the floor and the layout, so pick yours.
Work out your flooring
| Floor | Publishers agree on | We use |
|---|---|---|
| Laminate, vinyl plank | about 10 percent | 10 |
| Hardwood, straight | 5 to 10 percent | 10 |
| Any plank, diagonal | at least 15 percent | 15 |
| Carpet | 10 to 20 percent | 20 |
We take the high end of each range: a box short stops the job, a spare box fixes a board later.
Measure the whole floor that changes
Measure each room's length and width, and split an L-shaped room into rectangles. Include the closets and alcoves that get the new floor; they are easy to forget and they take a full box between them. For carpet, measure to the middle of each doorway, where the carpet will meet the next floor. Write the numbers down room by room and add them, or type the total area straight into the calculator.
Why carpet needs more than planks
Planks are cut to the room, and the off-cut from one row often starts the next, so ten percent covers most floors. Laid on a diagonal, every row ends in an angled cut, and fifteen percent is the minimum. Carpet comes off a roll, most often 12 feet wide, and has to be cut and seamed to fit the room, which is why ten to twenty percent extra is normal. Carpet is often priced and sold by the square yard: nine square feet.
Questions people ask
How much flooring for a 12 x 12 room?
144 square feet, plus ten percent for laminate or vinyl plank: about 158 square feet. With boxes of 20 square feet, that is 8 boxes.
For a 400 sq ft room, do I order 450?
For laminate or vinyl plank laid straight, about 440 is enough: ten percent extra. For hardwood laid straight, 420 to 440. For a diagonal layout, at least 460.
How much carpet for a 12 x 12 room?
144 square feet is 16 square yards. Add ten to twenty percent and plan on 17.6 to 19.2 square yards. A 12 foot wide roll fits a 12 foot room without a seam.
How many square feet in a yard of carpet?
Nine: a square yard is 3 feet by 3 feet.
Should I keep extra flooring?
Yes, a spare box or so. A damaged board or a stained patch of carpet is a small repair when you have the same product on the shelf.
Good to know
- Find the floor area first: multiply each room's length by its width, and split L-shaped rooms into rectangles you add together.1,2
- For a straight-laid floor, buy about 5 to 10 percent more than the measured area to cover cuts and mistakes.1,3,4
- For laminate, add about 10 percent to the room's square footage.5,6,7,8
- For vinyl plank, add at least 10 percent for waste.9,10,11
- For hardwood laid straight, allow about 5 to 10 percent waste.4,12
- A diagonal layout wastes more: plan on at least 15 percent extra.2,8
- Carpet usually needs 10 to 20 percent more than the floor area, because it comes in fixed roll widths and pieces must be seamed.13,14,15,16
- Carpet is often sold by the square yard; one square yard is 9 square feet.2,13,14
- Carpet rolls are most often 12 feet wide.2,14
- Each box of plank flooring states how many square feet it covers; divide your total (waste included) by that number and round up to whole boxes.1,7,12
- A box of laminate or vinyl plank commonly covers roughly 18 to 25 square feet, but always use the figure printed on your box.6,10
- Include closets and alcoves that will get the new floor in your measurements.2,7,12,15
- For carpet, measure to the middle of each doorway, not just to the wall.14,15
- Keep a little extra flooring (a spare box or so) for future repairs.1,11,17
How we checked this page
Checked on October 27, 2026. We kept a fact only when two independent publishers agree, and each one is numbered to its sources below. Where sources give different numbers, we keep only what they share. We never write a price. This page was written with an AI assistant and checked against the sources below.
Sources
- Solved! How Much Flooring Do I Need to Buy?, Bob Vila
- How to Measure for Flooring: Carpet, Hardwood, Vinyl & Tile, Carpet One Floor & Home
- 4 Steps to Calculate Square Footage, The Home Depot
- Shaw Hardwoods Installation Instructions, 3/4in Solid (doc SSHWII011007; PDF hosted by dealer Georgia Carpet), Shaw Industries
- How to Install Laminate Flooring, Lowe's
- How to Install Laminate Flooring Like a Pro, Bob Vila
- How To Calculate Total Square Feet And Order Laminate Flooring, Hunker
- How to Measure Flooring for Installation, Wayfair
- How to Install Vinyl Plank Flooring, Family Handyman
- Vinyl Flooring Calculator, HomeAdvisor
- How to Install Vinyl Plank Flooring, The Home Depot
- Measuring For Hardwood Flooring - Waste Factor, Overage, Uptown Floors
- How to Install Carpet, The Home Depot
- Carpet Calculator, HomeAdvisor
- How To Measure for Carpet Replacement, This Old House
- Square Footage Calculator: How to Measure Any Room's Sq Ft, Carpet One Floor & Home
- Here's How Much Extra Flooring to Buy, Angi