How to Measure a Room for Flooring in 3 Easy Steps

How to Measure a Room for Flooring in 3 Easy Steps

Figuring out how much flooring you need for a room is relatively simple. Measuring properly will save you time, money, and headaches in the future! Just follow these 3 easy steps.

Step 1: Measure out your room size

If you’re planning to install new flooring, the first step is to determine the square footage of each room where the flooring will be installed. To do this, measure the length and width of the room using a tape measure and then multiply your two measurements to get your square footage. For example, if your room is 10 feet wide by 11 feet long, you will end up with 110 square feet needing coverage. (10×11=110).

Step 2: Allow for Flooring and Cuts and Waste

It’s important to add 10% to the square footage to account for cuts and waste. This is especially important if you’re choosing a tile pattern, in which case you should add 20% instead. The reason is cuts in the flooring need to be staggered for a professional look, and you’ll want to have some extra pieces on hand just in case you need to fix or replace a board. So, if your square footage was 110 square feet, you would add 11 feet (110×0.1=11) for 121 square feet in total.

Step 3: Consult with a Flooring Retailer

Finally, it’s always a good idea to check with a flooring retailer to ensure your specific installation needs are accurate. Your calculations will give you a good estimate of the total square footage you’ll need, but small details can impact the actual amount of flooring you need.

Other Factors to Consider

If you have big permanent objects inside the room like kitchen islands, closet bump-outs, or stair cases, subtract them from the total square footage. For example, if you have a 3 feet by 5 feet island (3×5=15), subtract 15 square feet from the total square footage before you account for waste.

Another method to consider is using an online flooring calculator. Here is an example of a calculator you can use today! View Calculator

When installing an underlayment for your flooring, you also want to account for 10% waste. Most underlayments come in rolls of 100 square feet, so ending up with extra underlayment to account for 10% waste is likely. We specialize in flooring underlayments and can easily help you find the right underlayment for your flooring with our underlayment product selector tool.

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