How the Flooring Calculator Works
Our flooring calculator uses a simple but essential formula: (Room Length × Room Width) × (1 + (Waste Factor / 100)). It first calculates the raw square footage of your room. Then, it increases that amount by the waste factor percentage you select. This ensures you purchase enough material to account for cuts, mistakes, and unusable pieces, which are an inevitable part of any flooring project.
If you provide the coverage area per box, the calculator then divides the total required square footage by the box coverage and rounds up to the nearest whole number to give you the exact number of boxes to buy.
What is a Waste Factor?
No flooring installation uses exactly the amount of material as the room's square footage. Planks must be cut to fit against walls and around obstacles. Some pieces might have defects. The waste factor ensures you have enough material to cover these losses. A 10% waste factor is standard for simple layouts, while complex patterns like herringbone may require 15-20%.