Flooring Calculator: Boxes of Laminate or Vinyl Needed
Boxes of laminate, vinyl or wood flooring for a room from its area and the coverage on the box.
Inputs
- Working
- 20 m² ÷ 2.2 m² a box = 9.09, + 10% = 10 → 10 boxes
- Room area
- 20 m²
- Coverage per unit
- 2.2 m²
- Without waste
- 10
- Enter the coverage of one box/pack if your flooring is sold by the carton.
Use this calculator on your own site
Free embed
- Two lines of HTML, unlimited views
- Shows a small CalculateEveryday bar, with a credit link under the calculator
What each Flooring input means
- Floor area
- The floor area in m² or sq ft: length × width, adding the rectangles of an L-shaped room and the closets and alcoves you are flooring.
- Coverage per box (from the label)
- The area one box (or pack) covers, printed on the box — for example 1.99 m² or 20 sq ft. Use the box's figure rather than one plank's size.
- Waste allowance
- Extra for row-end off-cuts and cuts around doors and pipes. Straight lay in a plain rectangle wastes least; diagonal and herringbone layouts waste much more.
- Units
- Metric (metres, m², litres) or US units (feet, square feet, gallons). The room area and box coverage switch together, so the box label can be copied as printed.
Flooring formula
boxes = floor area ÷ coverage per box × (1 + waste %), rounded up
Flooring is sold by the box, and every box states the area it covers — 2.2 m², 20 sq ft and so on. Measure the room (length × width, adding each rectangle of an L-shaped room), divide by the box's coverage, add the waste you expect and round up to whole boxes. The waste is mostly the off-cut at the end of each row and the boards cut around doorways and pipes; long narrow rooms and diagonal layouts waste more. Manufacturers' installation guides do not settle on a single figure, so the page leaves it to you and shows how it changes the count.
Flooring worked example
A 20 m² room in laminate sold in boxes of 2.2 m²: 20 ÷ 2.2 = 9.09 boxes. With 10% for cuts, 9.09 × 1.1 = 10.0, so 10 boxes. In US units, a 14 × 16 ft room (224 sq ft) in 20 sq ft boxes is 11.2 boxes, 12.3 with 10% — 13 boxes.
More Flooring examples
A 14 × 16 ft room (224 sq ft) in boxes covering 20 sq ft: 11.2 boxes, 12.32 with 10% — so 13 boxes, since stores sell whole ones.
A 15.5 m² bedroom in vinyl plank sold in 1.99 m² packs, allowing 8%: 15.5 ÷ 1.99 = 7.79 packs, 8.41 with the allowance, so 9.
Where the Flooring calculator can give the wrong answer
- Use the coverage printed on the box, not one plank's size: boxes hold whole planks and the stated area accounts for the tongue and groove.
- Underlayment is a separate product covering the same area, sold in rolls.
- Buy all the boxes from one batch, and keep a part box for repairs.
- Closets, alcoves and the space under door frames count too. Measure into them.
Spotted a mistake? Tell us
Flooring reference table
| Room area | Boxes without extra | Boxes with 10% |
|---|---|---|
| 100 sq ft | 5 | 6 |
| 150 sq ft | 7.5 | 9 |
| 200 sq ft | 10 | 11 |
| 250 sq ft | 12.5 | 14 |
| 300 sq ft | 15 | 17 |
| 400 sq ft | 20 | 22 |
Flooring FAQ
- Room area ÷ the coverage on one box, plus your waste allowance, rounded up. A 224 sq ft room in 20 sq ft boxes is 11.2 boxes; with 10% for cuts it is 13.
- Enough to cover the off-cut at each row's end and cuts around doors. The makers checked do not publish a single figure, so the page shows the count at whatever percentage you choose; rooms with many corners need more than a plain rectangle.
- Length × width for a rectangle. Split an L-shaped room into two rectangles and add them, and measure into closets and alcoves that will be floored.
- It varies by product and plank size. The figure is printed on the box and the product page, and that is the number to enter.
- Many installers do, beyond the cutting allowance: a spare box from the same batch means a damaged board can be replaced later with one that matches. Boxes from a later production run can differ slightly in shade.
- Split the floor into rectangles and right triangles — a triangle's area is half its base × its height — and add them. Enter the total as the room area.
- Multiply by 0.0929: a 224 sq ft room is 20.8 m². Or switch the page's units; it converts what you have entered.
- Stores sell whole boxes, and running short at the end can mean a box from a different batch, so the count is always rounded up: 12.32 becomes 13.