Flooring Calculator

Buy by the box

Flooring — laminate, luxury vinyl plank, engineered or solid hardwood — is sold by the box, and each box covers a set number of square feet printed on the carton. So the math is: room area (length × width), plus a waste factor, divided by the box coverage, rounded up.

Ten percent waste is the standard for straight plank layouts; go to 15% for diagonal installs or rooms with lots of jogs and closets where you'll cut more. The calculator rounds up to whole boxes and tells you the total square footage those boxes actually cover, so you can see your spare margin.

Underlayment and acclimation

Most floating floors need underlayment for sound and moisture unless the plank has an attached pad. One roll typically covers about 100 square feet; the calculator adds rolls when you ask for them. Over concrete, add a moisture barrier too.

Two habits that prevent expensive mistakes: acclimate the boxes in the room for 48 hours before installing so the material adjusts to the home's humidity, and open and mix planks from several boxes as you go. Color and grain vary box to box, and blending them across the floor keeps any one batch from standing out as a stripe.