Tile Quantity Calculators

Floor area plus 10% is the honest starting point for tile quantity, and the 10% is not padding — it is cuts at the walls, the occasional broken tile, and a spare box for the repair you will need in five years when the pattern is discontinued.

Buy the spare box now

Tile is made in color lots. A box bought three weeks later can be visibly different in the same light, and a box bought three years later will not exist at all. The spare box is the cheapest insurance in the job.

Waste depends on the layout, not just the area

Straight and stacked layouts waste about 10%. Running bond is about 12%. A diagonal layout puts a cut on every perimeter tile and runs 15%. Herringbone takes two cuts on most edge tiles and runs 20% — and a mis-cut in herringbone rarely fits anywhere else, which straight cuts often do.

Measure the room in more than one place

Rooms are rarely square. The widest measurement is the one that decides how many tiles the last row needs, and discovering that after the tile is ordered is a bad afternoon.

Big tiles need a flatter floor, not just more mortar

Large-format tile is unforgiving of a floor that undulates. The bigger the tile, the more a dip shows as lippage between edges — and no amount of mortar corrects it, because mortar compresses. Check the floor with a straightedge before choosing a tile size, not after.

Start the layout where people look

Center the layout on the most visible sightline — usually the doorway you enter through — and let the cut tiles fall at the far edges. Starting from a wall because it is convenient puts a sliver of tile somewhere everyone can see.