About

Purchasing flooring or siding materials requires balancing area coverage with the physical dimensions of the individual units. Buying too little halts progress, while buying too much wastes budget on non-returnable boxes. This calculator determines the precise number of pieces required to cover a specific Area (m²), accounting for standard industry waste percentages for cuts and breakages. It rounds up to ensure you purchase whole units or full boxes, critical for laminate, ceramic tiles, or vinyl planks.

Formulas

The calculator first adds the waste percentage to the total area, then divides by the area of a single piece. The result is always rounded up to the next whole integer.

Pieces = ceil(TotalArea × (1 + Waste%)UnitLength × UnitWidth)

Reference Data

Material Type	Standard Unit Size	Area per Unit (m²)	Rec. Waste %
Subway Tile	10 cm × 20 cm	0.020	10-15%
Standard Ceramic	30 cm × 30 cm	0.090	10%
Large Format Tile	60 cm × 60 cm	0.360	10%
Laminate Plank	19 cm × 120 cm	0.228	5-8%
Vinyl Plank (LVP)	15 cm × 91 cm	0.137	5-8%
Brick (Standard)	21.5 cm × 6.5 cm	0.014	5%
Paving Slab	45 cm × 45 cm	0.203	5%
Siding Panel	20 cm × 366 cm	0.732	10%

Frequently Asked Questions

For simple square rooms, 10% is standard. If the room has diagonal layouts, many corners, or pillars, increase this to 15-20% to account for complex cuts where offcuts cannot be reused.

You cannot buy half a tile or 0.3 of a laminate board from a supplier. Rounding up ensures you have enough material to complete the last row without shortages.

This calculator assumes tight-fit or standard coverage. For very wide grout lines (e.g., >5mm), the actual number of tiles needed might be slightly lower, but it is safer to calculate based on the physical tile size to avoid shortages.