Measuring a Room for Flooring

Before ordering any flooring it is important to accurately measure your space to ensure you completely cover the surface area without any visible joins for a professional, attractive finish.

Unfortunately, not all rooms are simple shapes with straight walls and no interruptions such as bay windows, alcoves and fireplaces, and it can be tricky to know where to start. This guide illustrates how to account for different obstacles to give you a good estimate on how much you will need to order.

All flooring is priced per m² but sold in complete packs – the number of packs you need will be calculated for you on the product page, so it is the m² figure that you need to calculate.

Use a tape measure and calculator to achieve the most accurate results. Remember as well to always add a minimum of 5% additional flooring on straight plank boards and 15% on herringbone for wastage. For complicated spaces that will require more cutting of planks to size, it is always better to ensure you have allowed for greater wastage than you may need for a simple space.

If you’re not sure how to calculate the amount of flooring you need, please contact us and our team can help you.

Basic Room Measurements

At the simplest level, the area of a space is calculated by measuring the length by the width in metres, since this is the unit used for quoting flooring prices.

For example, if a room is 5.0m long by 4.0m wide the total area is 20m². If the room is completely symmetrical with no deviations from straight walls, such as fireplaces or alcoves, this will be the only measurement you will need. If it is not an even shape but the walls have no disruptions in them, split the room evenly and measure each part separately, then add them together.

When you select a product, enter this value to calculate how many packs you will need and you can then also check if this will provide enough surplus to allow for wastage for your project.

Indentations & Recesses

Most spaces will have some level of deviation from just straight walls, whether it is due to bay windows, fireplaces, or wall supports, distorting the shape of the room and flooring will need to be cut to fit around them.

To allow for this, first measure the length of the straight parts of the walls, then measure the length of the indentation or recess. Add them together for the total length. The width is the total width to the deepest part of the room, including any recesses.

Example 1 – Indentation (above):

Length: 1.5m + 2.0m + 1.5m = 5.0m

Width: 4.0m

Total area: 5.0m x 4.0m = 20.0m²

Example 2 – Recess (left):

Recess : 2.0m x 0.5m = 1.0m

(1.0m x 3.14) / 2.0 = 1.57m

Room : 5.0m x 4.0m = 20m²

Total area: 20.0m + 1.57m = 21.57m²

Staircases

For straight staircases where the size of the steps are identical.

Measure the length and width of the tread – the top part of the step – and multiply to get the area
Measure the length and depth of the riser – the front part of the step – and multiply to get the area
Add together to get the area per step
Multiply the area per step by the number of steps, excluding the top step which will be covered by the landing flooring.

For staircases with turns in them, or with uneven sizes of steps, measure the widest and longest parts of each stair individually and add them all together.

Landings

Landings can be in a variety of different shapes, making it tricky to measure.
The simplest way to do it is to split it down into multiple spaces, similar to the basic measurements guide.

Calculate the areas of each of these different sections and then add them together to find the total area,
remembering to include the top step.

Example :

Top of Stairs : 1.0m x 1.0m = 1.0m²

Main Landing : 6.0m x 2.0m = 12.0m²

Total Landing : 1.0m² + 12.0m² = 13.0m²

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