Flooring calculator
Enter the room, pick the flooring and the laying pattern, and get the boxes to buy, a drawing of the floor laid, and what it costs: material, waste, supplies, installation and transitions, with a low-to-high range. Works in feet and inches or metres.
Flooring calculator
Prices from Homewyse's vinyl tile (LVT) costs, as it lists no plank figure.
Set by the pattern: 10% for planks laid straight.
Printed on the box or the product page.
Material. Homewyse, May 2026, less its 6.75% overage: $6.52–8.58 per ft².
Homewyse, May 2026, less its 6.75% overage: $0.12–0.13 per ft².
Labour. Homewyse, May 2026: $1.93–4.10 per ft².
$283–366 each, installed (Homewyse, May 2026).
Boxes to buy
10 boxes
- Floor area
- 180 ft²
- With 10% waste
- 198 ft²
- Estimated total
- $2,400
Layout preview
Cost breakdown
- Flooring$1,35957%
- Waste and overage$1516%
- Underlayment and supplies$231%
- Installation$54223%
- Trim and transitions$32514%
Estimated total, low to high
The formula
- Area: length × width of the room, measured inside the walls. Add closets and alcoves that get the same floor.
- Add waste: area × (1 + waste % ÷ 100). The extra covers cuts at walls and doorways, offcuts too short to use, and a damaged board or two. The pattern sets it (the table below).
- Boxes: area with waste ÷ coverage per box, rounded up to a whole box.
- Cost: the floor area × the flooring price, plus the rest of the boxes at the same price (waste and overage), plus underlayment and supplies × the area, plus installation × the area if you hire it, plus each doorway transition.
Worked example
A 15 × 12 ft room in luxury vinyl plank, laid straight: 180 ft², and 10% waste makes 198 ft². At 20 ft² a box, 198 ÷ 20 = 9.9, so 10 boxes, which cover 200 ft². At the default prices (each the midpoint of its range, with Homewyse's overage taken out of the material and supplies), the flooring is 180 × $7.55 = $1,359, the other 20 ft² in the boxes $151, supplies 180 × $0.13 = $23, installation 180 × $3.01 = $542 and one transition $325: about $2,400, in a range of $1,956 to $2,844. In metric, a 3.6 × 4.5 m room is 16.2 m²; with 10% waste 17.82 m², and at 2 m² a pack, 9 packs.
| Room | Area | +10% waste | Boxes at 10% | +15% waste | Boxes at 15% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 × 10 ft | 100 ft² | 110 ft² | 6 | 115 ft² | 6 |
| 10 × 12 ft | 120 ft² | 132 ft² | 7 | 138 ft² | 7 |
| 12 × 12 ft | 144 ft² | 158.4 ft² | 8 | 165.6 ft² | 9 |
| 12 × 15 ft | 180 ft² | 198 ft² | 10 | 207 ft² | 11 |
| 14 × 16 ft | 224 ft² | 246.4 ft² | 13 | 257.6 ft² | 13 |
| 16 × 20 ft | 320 ft² | 352 ft² | 18 | 368 ft² | 19 |
How much waste to allow
| Pattern | Planks | Tile | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight | 10% | 15% | Havwoods 2024 (planks, under 100 m²); Fireclay Tile 2015 (tile) |
| Diagonal (45°) | 15% | 25% | Lowe's-hosted hardwood guide, 10–15% (the top taken); Artistic Tile, 25–30% (the bottom taken) |
| Herringbone | 15% | 20% | Havwoods 2024 (planks, under 100 m²); Fireclay Tile 2015 (tile) |
Havwoods allows less on big floors: 7% straight and 12% herringbone over 100 m² (about 1,076 ft²). Small rooms with many doorways and closets take more cuts per square foot, so allow a little more. Buy all the boxes from one production lot (printed on the box) so the colour matches, and keep a box spare for repairs.
What it costs
| Flooring | Material | Installation | Underlayment and supplies | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luxury vinyl plank | $6.96–9.16 | $1.93–4.10 | $0.13–0.14 | Vinyl tile |
| Laminate | $2.20–2.90 | $3.36–7.13 | $0.67–0.77 | Laminate |
| Engineered hardwood | $4.29–5.65 | $3.01–6.39 | $0.39–0.44 | Engineered wood |
| Solid hardwood | $6.80–8.96 | $5.68–6.88 | $0.51–0.58 | Hardwood |
| Porcelain or ceramic tile | $2.38–3.13 | $12.19–14.78 | $1.13–1.29 | Tile |
With the overage taken out, material, installation and supplies together come to $8.57–12.81 per ft² for luxury vinyl plank, $6.05–10.57 for laminate, $7.39–12.09 for engineered hardwood, $12.53–15.82 for solid hardwood and $15.48–18.92 for porcelain or ceramic tile, before your waste allowance and any transitions.
A doorway transition or threshold strip is $283–366 installed, most of it labour and the minimum charge (Homewyse, May 2026). The low and high totals use each range while a price is still the default; once you type your own price, all three use it. Taking up the old floor, moving furniture, baseboard and subfloor repairs are not included.
A whole house at once
Room by room is fine for one floor. For a house, draw the plan: FloorGen's Schedules and budget panel (in the account menu) totals flooring and tile for every room, with a waste allowance you can change (10% to start), and lists baseboard net of doors. Materials estimate from a floor plan works through a full example, with drywall.
Questions
How much extra flooring should I buy?
For planks, about 10% laid straight and 15% on the diagonal or in herringbone; for tile, about 15% straight, 20% in herringbone and 25% on the diagonal. Then round up to whole boxes.
How much does it cost to install flooring per square foot?
By Homewyse's May 2026 national averages, with its 6.75% waste overage taken out of the material and supplies, material, supplies and labour together run from about $6 to $10.60 per ft² for laminate, $7.40 to $12.10 for engineered wood, $8.60 to $12.80 for vinyl, $12.50 to $15.80 for solid hardwood and $15.50 to $18.90 for ceramic tile, for a small job of around 120 ft². Add your waste allowance to the material; Homewyse's own totals also add an equipment-rental allowance, up to about $1 per ft² more. Bigger rooms cost less per square foot to lay.
Do I measure inside or outside the walls?
Inside: the floor you cover stops at the walls. A house's listed square footage is measured outside and is several percent larger, so it overstates the flooring you need.
How do I handle a room that is not a rectangle?
Work out its area with the square footage calculator, which takes L-shapes, circles and triangles, then enter a rectangle of the same area here, or add the rooms' boxes together.
What if my boxes are sold by the square metre?
Switch the calculator to metres: the area, the coverage of a pack and the prices are then all per m².