Flooring Calculator
How many packs of laminate, engineered wood, or vinyl flooring you need for your room — with the right wastage allowance for your layout.
How this flooring calculator works
Flooring is sold by area, usually in packs. The estimate is:
- Room area = length × width. For L-shaped rooms, split into rectangles, calculate each, and add them together.
- Add wastage. Every row ends with a cut board, and cuts can't always be reused. 10% extra is the trade standard for a normal room; 5% suffices for a simple rectangle laid straight; diagonal patterns (herringbone especially) waste 15% or more.
- Divide by pack coverage. The coverage per pack is printed on the box and on the retailer's listing — typically 1.7–2.5 m² for laminate.
- Round up to whole packs. You can't buy half a pack.
Why you should always buy a spare pack
Beyond the wastage allowance, experienced fitters keep one extra pack after the job. Boards get damaged — a dropped pan, a dragged sofa, a water leak — and flooring lines get discontinued surprisingly fast. A matching spare pack in the loft turns a disaster into a twenty-minute repair. If the calculator's rounding already leaves you with most of a pack spare, that counts.
Measuring awkward rooms
- L-shaped rooms: split into two rectangles at the corner, measure each, add the areas.
- Bay windows: treat the bay as a small extra rectangle at its widest and deepest points — slight overestimate, which is what you want.
- Under radiators and appliances: include them. Flooring should run under radiators, and you'll regret not flooring under a dishwasher when it's replaced.
- Doorways: measure into the doorway to where the threshold bar will sit.
- Direction of lay: boards usually run parallel to the longest wall or the main light source. This affects wastage slightly but the 10% allowance covers it.
Don't forget the extras
Packs of boards aren't the whole bill. A typical laminate or engineered-wood job also needs underlay (sold in rolls, same area as the room), threshold bars for each doorway, beading or new skirting to cover the expansion gap around the perimeter, and a fitting kit (spacers and a tapping block) if it's your first job. Budget roughly 15–25% of the flooring cost for these.
Frequently asked questions
How many packs of laminate do I need for an average living room?
A 5 m × 4 m living room is 20 m². With 10% wastage that's 22 m² to buy. At a typical 2.22 m² per pack, that's 10 packs.
What wastage should I allow for herringbone flooring?
15% minimum, and some fitters say 20% for small or awkward rooms. Every edge of a herringbone lay ends in an angled cut, and offcuts are rarely reusable.
Can I return unopened packs?
Most large retailers accept returns of unopened packs within 30–90 days with a receipt. Check the policy before buying — if returns are easy, err on the side of an extra pack.
Do I measure the room or the floor I can see?
Measure wall to wall, including under furniture and radiators. Only exclude built-in fixtures that sit directly on the subfloor, like a fitted kitchen island or fireplace hearth.
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