Tile calculator
How many tiles, and how many boxes, to cover a floor or a wall, with wastage for cuts and breakages.
37 tiles, or 10 boxes.
- Area
- 12.0 m²
- Plus 10% wastage
- 13.2 m²
- One tile
- 0.36 m²
For flooring measured off your actual layout, room by room, with doors and windows where they really are, draw it in the designer: the quote there works it out as you draw.
How it works it out
The area to cover plus a wastage allowance is what to buy. That, divided by the area of one tile and rounded up, is the number of tiles; divided by the tiles in a box and rounded up, the number of boxes.
Wastage covers the tiles cut at the edges and round corners, pipes and doorways, and the odd breakage. 10% suits a straight lay of ordinary tiles. Allow 15% for a diagonal or herringbone pattern, for large-format tiles where every cut loses more, or for a small room with many edges.
Questions
How many 600 × 600 tiles do I need for 10 m²?
One 600 × 600 mm tile covers 0.36 m². 10 m² plus 10% wastage is 11 m², which takes 31 tiles.
How much extra tile should I buy?
10% for a straight lay, 15% for diagonal, herringbone or large tiles. Buy them all at once: tiles from a later batch can differ slightly in shade, and keeping a few spare makes a future repair match.
How do I work out the area of a floor?
Length times width, in metres, for a rectangle. For an L-shaped room, split it into rectangles and add them up, or draw the room in the designer, which measures any shape.
Does the tile size change how much I need?
Not the area, but the count, and the waste: large tiles lose more at each cut, so allow more wastage, and small tiles need more grout lines but waste less.