Flooring Calculator
Measure For a Hard Floor or Carpet Renovation The Right Way
Regardless of the type of floor you are choosing – whether it be carpet, bamboo, timber or laminate, it’s an important job that needs your utmost attention, as a poorly installed floor can ruin the whole look of your home and decrease it’s value.
The whole process can overwhelm many home owners which is why we included this article and free flooring calculator to help take out the guess work around ordering the right amount of flooring material then deciding whether you will be installing the floor yourself or choosing an installation professional.
In regards to flooring material, you don’t want to have a substantial amount left over nor do you want to be holding your breath hoping you will have enough to finish your renovations.
Follow these 4 steps then use our free flooring calculator below to get an accurate final estimate.
Measure All Rooms
Accurately measuring the total sqm required for your renovations project is very important.
First, get a note pad and sketch an outline of all the rooms you intend to lay floor boards or carpets on. Make sure to take walk in robes, standard robes, pantry, linen cupboard, fridge space, dishwasher space etc into account.
- Then, get a tape measure that is longer than the largest dimension of your room.
- Next, measure the width of the room and then the length and write down these measurements on your notepad.
- Now complete this process for all the rooms you are planning to renovate, then write down the total for each on your sketch.
To calculate the number of square meters you need, simply multiply the length by the width – this will give you the total sqm.
For example, if your room is 10 meters across and 12 meters wide, you will need 120 square meters of material (10 meters x 12 meters = 120 square meters).
You can now add all these totals together, or better still use our handy calculator below.
WHAT ABOUT IRREGULAR ROOMS? If you are working on a room with an irregular shape, first sketch an outline of the room.
- Then – measure around the walls of the room, marking the measurements on your drawing.
- Next – take a close look at your sketch then divide the room up into square or rectangular sections.
- Finally – calculate the area of each section, adding them together for your total area.
Allow For Wastage
You should always order extra flooring material to cover wastage – estimate 5 – 10%. 5% is generally enough for an experienced installer. If you have many irregular shapes, angles or curves, always allow for a higher amount of wastage.
Ordering
All of our flooring products are sold by the box which will contain a different amount of sqm depending on the range and brand. The sqm details per box of each product will be listed on each product page on our online store. However, if any product price or sqm metre per box is not displayed on any particular product of interest, simply contact our sales team for full details or request a quote online.
To find out how many boxes you will need simply use our calculator below, which will work out the total area required for your renovations project. This is done by adding all of the dimensions of each room together calculating a total and final estimate – including wastage.
HERE’S AN EXAMPLE!
- If your total area including waste was 88 sqm, and each box contains 2.5 sqm, you need this amount of boxes – (88/2.5 = 35.2 boxes).
- Since you can only buy full boxes, you need to decide if you want 35 boxes or 36 boxes. In this case 35 boxes would be 87.5 sqm and most likely enough for your project.
- But you may want to play it safe and buy 36 boxes which is 90 sqm.
Even though you have taken wastage into account, its still a good idea to order an additional box or two just to be safe, especially if you are an inexperienced installer. That way, if you accidentally damage a few more boards than you anticipated during the installation process, you won’t suffer the inconvenience of putting your project on hold while sourcing some new material.
Also, having a box or two sitting in storage is always handy in the event that you damage a few floor boards over the years. That way you never have to worry if your style gets discontinued, as quite often colour ranges are discontinued within a year, so better to be safe than sorry!
Installation
Installation is the most important part of the whole process and can make or break your project.
Now it’s time to decide if you’re going to install the floor yourself and just get us to supply your flooring materials or hire an installation professional to complete the job for you.
O’Brien Timber Floors offer an expert installation service to homes and businesses Melbourne wide if you do not want to carry out the installation process yourself.
What ever you decide, our team is always here to guide you through the process.
We hope this article helped you get more familiar with the process of calculating how much material you need and accounting for wastage and also deciding on the best installation option. If you have any questions be sure to get in touch, we are open 7 days a week.