How to Determine Square Footage for Flooring

If you’re wondering how to determine square footage for flooring, then you’ve come to the right place. While it’s exciting to think about walking across a genuinely beautiful hardwood floor, whether your choice is rich walnut, bright maple or striking quartersawn oak, the first step is to achieving the best result is to ensure that your space is measured correctly.

Here are a few tried and true formulas to help make your calculations go as smoothly as possible:

Rectangle – Area = L x W

 

Triangle – Area* = W x H/2

 

Sector – Area* = π x R x R x A/360

π = 3.14159265

Don’t forget, if your measurements includes inches, be sure to convert to a decimal before you multiply. There are 12 inches in a foot, so for example 3 inches becomes 3/12 = 1/4 = .25 feet.

• Also, remember to add 15% onto the area of a triangle or sector because of the additional waste of cutting on angle or curve.
• If your measurements includes inches, be sure to convert to a decimal before you multiply. There are 12 inches in a foot, so for example 3 inches becomes 3/12 = 1/4 = .25 feet.
• Also, remember to add 15% onto the area of a triangle or sector because of the additional waste of cutting on angle or curve.

 

Sample Floorplan

Remember, oddly shaped rooms can be broken down into multiple sections. For example, take a look at the living room with the shape below outlined in green:

To properly determine square footage for flooring, simply break up the space into more basic shapes like this:

 And here’s what your corresponding sheet of calculations would look like:

To help you keep track of how much square footage you will need in total, download our handy Square Footage Worksheet (PDF).

Also, feel free to send your plans or bring them by during a visit to our showroom, and we would be more than happy to do the calculations for you.