Flooring comes in packs that each state their own coverage, so the pack count is easy. The harder question — and the one that decides whether the floor lasts — is what is underneath it, and whether the room is somewhere that flooring can go at all.
Laminate, vinyl, LVT and engineered board. Enter the room and the coverage printed on the pack.
Works in metric and US imperial — you choose at the start and can switch at any time. Every figure this calculator uses is published with its source, and the result comes with a printable order sheet. No account, no email, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
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Rather than assuming it. Coverage differs by board size and by brand, and a pack of a wide-plank product covers very differently from a narrow one. The figure is printed on the pack, it is the number the whole calculation depends on, and guessing it is the main reason flooring orders come out wrong. Read it off the pack or the product page and enter it.
Straight lay in a square room is around 10%. Diagonal is about 15%. Herringbone is around 20%. Every calculator that applies a flat 10% to all three over-orders the simple jobs and leaves the complicated ones short by a pack — which, given that the pack has to come from the same batch, is the more expensive error of the two.
Not the flooring: what is underneath it, and how it was fitted. Acclimatise every product — laminate, vinyl and wood all want time in the room they will live in, usually 48 hours and longer for wood. Underlay is a real specification rather than an accessory: some products have it attached, some need a separate damp-proof membrane, and the wrong choice can void the guarantee. And doorways, thresholds and trim are not in the pack count — every doorway needs a threshold bar, every edge needs beading or the skirting lifting, and radiator pipes need collars.
Around 10% for a straight lay in a square room, 15% for diagonal, and 20% for herringbone. A flat 10% applied to every layout, which is what most calculators do, leaves herringbone jobs a pack short.
Yes — laminate, vinyl and wood all want time in the room they will be fitted in, usually 48 hours and longer for wood. Fitted straight off a cold lorry, the floor moves after installation rather than before it.
No, and neither are threshold bars, beading or pipe collars. Underlay is also a specification rather than an accessory: some flooring has it attached, some needs a separate damp-proof membrane, and using the wrong one can void the guarantee.
Along the longest wall, or towards the main light source, is the usual advice. It also affects waste, because it changes where the cuts fall.