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 5-10% additional flooring to allow for off-cuts and to get the best layout of planks. 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 Measurement
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.
Staircases
- 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
