Laminate & Hardwood Flooring Calculator
Work out how many packs and planks of laminate or hardwood flooring to buy for a room, with a built-in cutting-waste allowance.
Units
m
m
m²
m
m
%
Covers 22 m² including waste
- 1
Floor area
5 × 4 = 20 m² - 2
Area with waste allowance
20 × (1 + 7 ÷ 100) = 21.4 m²The 7% allowance covers off-cuts and trimming. - 3
Packs needed
⌈21.4 ÷ 2.2⌉ = 10
How does this calculator work?
Multiply room length by width to get the floor area, add a waste allowance (about 7%, or 10% for diagonal layouts), then divide by the pack coverage and round up. With a 2.2 m² pack coverage, a 5 × 4 m room at 7% waste needs about 10 packs.
Formula
How this is calculated
Enter the room length and width to get the floor area (length × width). You can work in metres or feet; feet are converted to metres internally so the area is in square metres. A waste allowance — typically 7% for a standard straight lay and around 10% for diagonal or herringbone patterns — accounts for off-cuts, trimming around door frames, and mistakes. The area is multiplied by (1 + waste%) to give the area you actually need to buy.
Packs needed = ceil(area with waste / pack coverage), where pack coverage is the floor space a single pack covers (commonly 2.2 m²). Because you can only buy whole packs, the result is always rounded up. The total plank count is found the same way using a single plank's area (plank length × plank width), giving an estimate of how many individual boards you will lay.
Assumptions: a rectangular room (for L-shaped rooms, split into rectangles and add the results), uniform plank size, and that the waste percentage covers normal cutting losses. Always check the actual pack coverage and plank dimensions printed on the product, and buy at least one extra pack to keep matching spares for future repairs.
Frequently asked questions
Allow about 7% extra for a standard straight lay. For diagonal layouts, herringbone patterns, or rooms with many angles and obstacles, increase this to 10% or more to cover the additional cutting.
Flooring is sold in whole packs, so any fractional pack is rounded up to the next whole pack. This ensures you have enough material to finish the room with the waste allowance included.
Yes. Just enter the coverage per pack and the plank dimensions for your specific hardwood product; the same area and waste maths applies to both laminate and solid or engineered hardwood.
Also known as
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. (2026). Laminate & Hardwood Flooring Calculator [Online calculator]. TG we-Calculate. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/laminate-flooring-calculator
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. "Laminate & Hardwood Flooring Calculator." TG we-Calculate. 2026. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/laminate-flooring-calculator.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team, "Laminate & Hardwood Flooring Calculator," TG we-Calculate, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://we-calculate.com/calculator/laminate-flooring-calculator
@misc{wecalculate_laminate_flooring_calculator, title = {Laminate & Hardwood Flooring Calculator}, author = {{TG we-Calculate Editorial Team}}, howpublished = {\url{https://we-calculate.com/calculator/laminate-flooring-calculator}}, year = {2026}, note = {TG we-Calculate} }
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