Calculate flooring waste and the total flooring to buy: enter the room area or size, pick a flooring type for a typical waste %, and get the boxes needed.
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Flooring Waste Formula
The following formula is used to calculate the flooring waste.
Variables:
- FW is the flooring waste in square feet or square meters
- TA is the total area of the room in square feet or square meters
- WR is the waste ratio as a percentage
To calculate the flooring waste, multiply the total area of the room by the waste ratio. Then divide the result by 100 to convert the waste ratio from percentage to a decimal. The result is the amount of flooring waste in the same units as the total area.
What Is Flooring Waste?
In this calculator, flooring waste means extra flooring area allowed above the net area to cover cuts and layout loss. It does not estimate debris, packaging, adhesive or removed flooring. Use the product and installation plan to choose an allowance; roll widths, seams and patterns require additional layout planning.
How to Calculate Flooring Waste?
The following steps outline how to calculate the Flooring Waste.
- First, determine the total area of the room (TA) in square feet or square meters.
- Next, determine the waste ratio (WR) as a percentage.
- Next, gather the formula from above = FW = (TA * WR) / 100.
- Finally, calculate the Flooring Waste (FW).
- After inserting the variables and calculating the result, check your answer with the calculator above.
Example Problem :
Use the following variables as an example problem to test your knowledge.
Total area of the room (TA) = 500 square feet
Waste ratio (WR) = 10%; FW = 500 × 10 ÷ 100 = 50 square feet of extra allowance. Target area = 500 + 50 = 550 square feet. For boxed flooring, divide that target by coverage per box and round up.
