Flooring Calculator

Ten percent for a straightforward rectangular room laid straight. Fifteen percent for a diagonal or herringbone layout, an L-shaped room, or anything with lots of doorways and closets to work around. Twenty percent if the planks are long and the room is narrow.

Multiply the room's length by its width in feet. For an L-shape, split it into two rectangles, work each out and add them. Measure at the widest points and include closets and doorways you are flooring through.

For floating floors — laminate and most click vinyl — yes, unless the planks come with it pre-attached. It handles minor subfloor irregularities, cuts noise and, over concrete, provides the vapour barrier. Glue-down and nail-down floors do not use it.

Yes. Wood and printed vinyl both vary between production runs, and a box bought later can be noticeably off in tone. Buy the full quantity plus spares at once and check the lot number on every box.

The default here is 10%. Buying a little extra from the same batch is cheap insurance — colours and lots shift between production runs, so a mid-project top-up rarely matches. Keep the offcuts for future repairs.

Split it into rectangles, work out each one separately and add the results. Measure at the widest point of each section and ignore small alcoves unless you are covering them too.