How to Calculate How Much Flooring You Will Need

Our guide on how to work out how many boxes of laminate flooring you will need.

There are different ways to work out how many packs of wood or laminate flooring you will need for a job. It is important to know that all wood and laminate floors come in many different box sizes, normally ranging from 1sqm up to 4sqm. If you have been told that you will need X amount of packs to cover a room before even choosing your floor, it is very likely that you won't have the correct amount of packs of laminate flooring or wood floors. If you need professional help for installations, we can recommend checkatrade.com who have lots of experienced installers across the UK.

To answer the question,  "how much flooring do I need?" you first need to know just 2 basic things:

• Your room area (preferably in metres squared) or the measurements of the room
• The coverage in a box of your chosen floor. (this will be in metres squared).

Helpful tip : Read about our laminate flooring calculator or visit any of the product pages on our website, and enter in your room area or size. It will calculate how many packs of flooring you need for all of our 170 wood and laminate floors.

Measuring Your Room for Wood / Laminate Flooring

To work out the area of a room, measure the length and width in metres. Multiplying these numbers together e.g. 3.2mx 2.3m, will give you the floor area of 7.36m². (If you visit one of our categories or product pages we have a calculator that can work this out for you.)

Wood / Laminate Flooring Pack Size

Each floor that we sell comes in different widths/lengths/print/wood/manufacturer etc. This means each floor will have a different box/pack size , meaning that it will cover a different surface area. This makes it important to take into account the area you are looking to buy for and the size of each box.

Calculating The Amount Of Packs

We provide a laminate flooring price calculator on our website,  to help show you the total price of each floor for the area that you require. This takes into account the area covered per box for each floor and does the calculation for you. It is also why all our floors are priced in m² and not by box/pack size. If you want to do it your self, divide the room area, by the box size.

EG For a room that is 15m² and the floor you have chosen has a pack size of 2.3m².

15/2.3 = 6.5 or 7 boxes of Flooring.

Allowing For Wastage

It is important to ensure that you have allowed for wastage. Wastage is the allowance for cutting some boards to fit them into your room, for imperfect floors (especially in rustic and real wood floors) and for installation mistakes. Wastage depends upon the size and the shape of the area that you are laying your laminate or wood floor.

The standard waste is 5%, but extra waste should be considered for the following circumstances :

• In narrow rooms or irregularly shaped rooms add 5%.
• For Chevron, parquet flooring or herringbone flooring  add 5%
• If the wood type is Distressed or Rustic real Wood Floors add 10%
• Or when the floor type is reclaimed wood flooring  add 20%

EG.  A real wood rustic herringbone installation in a hallway should consider 5% regular Waste + 5% for the narrow room, + 5% for herringbone, +10% for rustic = 25% total waste

Things to remember when working out how many packs to buy:

• Take note of the box/pack size when buying a floor. Not the number of boards but the m² that it is going to cover.
• Use our on-site calculator to assist you with calculations so you don't have to work out the price for each individual floor
• Remember to allow for cutting and natural waste.

How to Calculate How Much Flooring You Will Need

Source: https://www.woodfloorwarehouse.co.uk/advice-inspiration/faqs/how-many-packs-of-wood-flooring-do-i-need

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