Laminate flooring calculator

How to use the laminate flooring calculator

Use this calculator to estimate laminate flooring boxes and underlayment for a rectangular room. Enter room dimensions or a known floor area, then adjust carton coverage, waste, and optional box price.

1. Choose Feet / inches or Metres / cm.
2. Enter Length and Width, including any plus inches, or enter Or a known area to override the dimensions.
3. Enter Coverage per box and adjust Waste %.
4. Leave Include underlayment selected if you also want a roll estimate.
5. Review the whole-box, roll, purchase-area, and optional cost results.

What to enter

Unit system

Choose Feet / inches or Metres / cm. The default is imperial.

Length

Enter the room length. The default is 12 ft in imperial mode or 12 m in metric mode.

plus inches

Add remaining inches in imperial mode or centimetres in metric mode. The default is 0.

Width

Enter the room width. The default is 10 ft in imperial mode or 10 m in metric mode.

plus inches

Add remaining inches in imperial mode or centimetres in metric mode. The default is 0.

Or a known area

Enter a positive floor area in sq ft or m². This overrides Length × Width.

Coverage per box

Use the coverage printed on the carton. The default is 20 sq ft per box in imperial mode or 20 m² per box in metric mode.

Waste %

Add material for cuts, breakage, and settling. The default is 10%; accepted values range from 0% to 50%.

Price per box (optional)

Enter a non-negative US dollar price to estimate material cost from the rounded box count.

Include underlayment

Selected by default for laminate. When selected, the calculator estimates rolls for the full waste-adjusted purchase area.

Example: 12 ft by 10 ft room

Using the defaults, the floor area is 12 ft × 10 ft = 120 sq ft. With 10% waste, the Area to purchase is 120 sq ft × 1.10 = 132 sq ft. At 20 sq ft per box, 132 sq ft ÷ 20 sq ft per box = 6.6 boxes, which rounds up to 7 boxes. With Include underlayment selected, the default coverage is 100 sq ft per roll in imperial mode: 132 sq ft ÷ 100 sq ft per roll = 1.32 rolls, which rounds up to 2 rolls. If the price is $32 per box, the material cost is 7 boxes × $32 = $224. The 132 sq ft Area to purchase already includes the waste allowance; there is no separate waste-area result.

How the laminate flooring estimate is calculated

The calculator uses Length × Width unless Or a known area is entered. Minor dimensions are added to the major dimension: imperial inches are converted to feet, and metric centimetres are combined with metres. The waste factor is 1 + Waste % ÷ 100. Area to purchase = floor area × waste factor. Boxes = Area to purchase ÷ Coverage per box, rounded up to the next whole box. If Include underlayment is selected, rolls = Area to purchase ÷ roll coverage, rounded up to whole rolls. The default roll coverage is 100 sq ft per roll in imperial mode or 100 m² per roll in metric mode. If a price is entered, material cost = rounded box count × price per box, rounded to two decimal places. Displayed areas and exact counts are rounded to two decimals.

Reading the results

Boxes to buy is the whole number of cartons to purchase. Laminate area is the calculated floor area, while Area to purchase includes the selected waste allowance. Underlayment rolls appears when Include underlayment is selected. Material cost appears only when Price per box (optional) is filled in. The breakdown also shows coverage per box and the unrounded box calculation before it is rounded up.

Limitations and common mistakes

• The calculator treats the room as a rectangle. Use Or a known area for a measured irregular space, or split the space into rectangles and add the areas.
• The default carton coverage is 20 sq ft in imperial mode or 20 m² in metric mode. Replace it with the coverage printed on the carton when it differs.
• Waste defaults to 10% and can be set from 0% to 50%. The built-in assumption notes 10% for a straight lay and 15–20% for diagonal or herringbone patterns; the calculator does not choose the percentage automatically.
• Underlayment uses 100 sq ft per roll in imperial mode or 100 m² per roll in metric mode by default. Check the roll coverage and the installation instructions for your product.

Frequently asked questions