Flooring Calculator

Add every room, choose a waste figure from a maker's guide, and get the square feet and boxes of flooring to buy.

How to calculate how much flooring you need

A flooring calculator answers one question: how much flooring covers this space, and how many boxes is that. The steps are the same for laminate, hardwood and vinyl plank. You can read each one in the result above.

Area. Multiply length by width in feet for each room, then add the rooms. For an L-shaped room, add one area for each rectangle. A 14 ft by 12 ft room is 168 square feet.
Waste. Multiply by 1 plus your waste. With 10% waste you multiply by 1.10. This covers cuts at the walls and boards you cannot use.
Boxes. Divide by the square feet in one box. The number is printed on the box.
Round up. You cannot buy part of a box. The calculator also shows how much will be left over.

How much extra to buy

There is no single number. The guides below come from makers of laminate, hardwood and vinyl. Each one says what it asks for. They do not agree, and none of them is a standard, so the waste box starts empty and the choice is yours.

Maker	Floor	What the guide says
Pergo	Laminate	Add 10% for standard installs and 15% for diagonal.
Mullican	Hardwood	Add 5% (its formula says 5% to 7%), and 10% to 15% for diagonal. It also suggests 1 or 2 extra cartons for repairs.
Shaw (2010 guide)	Hardwood	A 5% cutting allowance, with a higher percentage for diagonal, herringbone or bordered layouts.
Mohawk	Engineered hardwood	Buy an additional 5% for cuts and an additional 10% if installing diagonally.
LifeProof (2023 guide)	Vinyl plank and tile	Order approximately 10% more than the square footage.
LifeProof (2018 guide)	Vinyl herringbone	Order 20% more than the square footage.
Dotfloor	Vinyl	Consider adding 5% for cutting waste and grading allowance.

All of these were opened in October 2026. Home Depot and Lowe’s host the PDFs, and each one is the maker’s own guide. Guides differ between product lines and between editions of the same guide, so check the one that comes with the box you buy.

Boxes for common floor areas

This table assumes a box of 20 square feet. That is only an example, so type the number from your own box above.

Floor area	5% waste	10% waste	15% waste
100 sq ft	6 boxes	6 boxes	6 boxes
144 sq ft (12 × 12 ft)	8 boxes	8 boxes	9 boxes
200 sq ft	11 boxes	11 boxes	12 boxes
300 sq ft	16 boxes	17 boxes	18 boxes
500 sq ft	27 boxes	28 boxes	29 boxes

Notice how little the box count moves. Rounding up to whole boxes often hides the difference between 5% and 10%. The calculator shows the left-over square feet so you can see how much room you have.

Example: three rooms with 10% waste

Step	Calculation
Living room	18 × 14 = 252 sq ft
Bedroom	12 × 11 = 132 sq ft
Hall	10 × 4 = 40 sq ft
Total area	252 + 132 + 40 = 424 sq ft
With 10% waste	424 × 1.10 = 466.4 sq ft
Boxes of 20 sq ft	466.4 ÷ 20 = 23.32, rounded up to 24 boxes
Left over	24 × 20 = 480 sq ft bought, 480 − 424 = 56 sq ft

Pick the calculator for your floor

Each material has its own rules, and the makers write them down. These pages use the guides of real brands and add what this general page leaves out.

Laminate flooring calculator. Counts planks and underlayment rolls, and works out the rows and the last row with the expansion gap from the Pergo guides.
Hardwood flooring calculator. Adds spare cartons, which Mullican suggests, and uses the 3/4 inch expansion space that Somerset and Shaw quote from the NWFA.
Vinyl plank flooring calculator. Compares the 5%, 10% and 20% that Dotfloor and LifeProof ask for, and checks the 1/4 inch gap and the long-run rules.
Carpet calculator. Gives the square yards of carpet to buy for the roll width you pick, with the strips and seams.
Tile calculator. Adds the grout joint to the count and estimates grout.
Square footage calculator. Handles circles and triangles if a room has a curved or angled part.

What this tool does not cover

Layout. It counts from the area. It does not plan where the cuts fall or which pattern you lay.
Expansion gaps and rows. Those depend on the floor, so they are in the laminate, hardwood and vinyl plank pages.
Price. No prices are shown, because they change by store and region. Take your numbers to your supplier and ask for a quote.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate how much flooring I need?

Multiply the length by the width of each room in feet, then add the rooms together. Add the waste your install guide asks for, divide by the square feet in one box and round up. For a 14 ft by 12 ft room that is 168 square feet. With 10% waste you need 184.8 square feet, and with 20 square feet in a box that is 9.24 boxes, so 10 boxes.

How much flooring is needed for a 12x12 room?

A 12 by 12 foot room is 144 square feet. With 10% waste that is 158.4 square feet. If the box holds 20 square feet you need 8 boxes, and if it holds 24 square feet you need 7. Type your own box size above to get your number.

How much vinyl flooring do I need for a 10x10 room?

A 10 by 10 foot room is 100 square feet. LifeProof asks for about 10% more on its vinyl planks, which makes 110 square feet. With 20 square feet in a box that is 6 boxes, and with 24 square feet it is 5 boxes. This counts vinyl planks and tiles sold in boxes. Sheet vinyl comes in rolls and needs a different count.

How many boxes of flooring for 300 sq ft?

It depends on the waste and on the box. With 20 square feet per box, 300 square feet takes 16 boxes at 5% waste, 17 boxes at 10% and 18 boxes at 15%. The steps are 300 × 1.10 = 330 square feet, then 330 ÷ 20 = 16.5, rounded up to 17.

How much extra flooring should I buy?

The guides we opened do not agree, and none of them is a standard. Pergo asks for 10% on laminate and 15% for diagonal. Mullican, Shaw and Mohawk ask for 5% on hardwood and more for diagonal. LifeProof asks for about 10% on vinyl planks and 20% for herringbone, while Dotfloor says 5%. Use the figure from the guide of your own product.

Can I use this for tile or carpet?

Not for tile, because tile also needs the grout joint, so use the tile calculator. Carpet and sheet vinyl are bought by the roll, so a box count does not fit them. This page is meant for floors sold in boxes, like laminate, hardwood and vinyl plank.

How do I measure a room that is not a rectangle?

Split it into rectangles, measure each one and add them as separate areas. An L-shaped room is two rectangles. If you already know the area of a part, choose “Area I already know” and type it in square feet, square yards or square meters.