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How To Measure for Laminate Flooring

by Crystal Hosking - Hosking Hardwood Flooring, Inc. © 2014, Copyright Protected. All Rights Reserved

Laminate flooring is a great way and somewhat inexpensive way to update your home. Get rid of that dirty allergen filled carpet and opt for the latest trends in a super durable hard surface floor! The best part of adding laminate flooring to your home is that it's easy enough to do yourself, saving yourself even more.

Although the thought of measuring a room for new flooring can seem a little daunting at first, it's really all just simple math. The key is to think of your room in terms of rectangles.

For a simple rectangular room, you would just measure the length of the room by the width. For example, if a room is 10' long by 10' wide, 10' x 10' is 100 square feet. Obviously not all rooms are going to measure out to a perfect foot, so it's important to round up to the nearest half foot. For example, if the length measures out to be 10'3", round up to 10-1/2'.

For rooms that are a little bit more complex --- maybe there's a closet or a hallway --- you just need to break these areas down into their own rectangles and then add all the areas together.

(For clarification, see the diagram below)

Waste Factors

Something not to be forgotten when figuring out how much laminate flooring to order is the waste factor. This is the extra amount of laminate flooring you should order in order to cover cutting and fitting waste. The standard recommendation for a waste factor is 5%. If there are a lot of smaller spaces in your flooring renovation or unusual cutting angles (i.e. closets, crawl spaces, hallways, kitchen islands), you may want to bump up your waste factor to about 8%. If you plan on installing on an angle (diagonally), you should increase the waste factor to about 15%.

 

 

If you're putting the same laminate flooring in multiple rooms, do all your measuring, add the rooms' square footages together, and then calculate the waste factor needed for the total project.

When figuring out a waste factor, it's always better to err on the side of caution. Don't go overboard, but running out of laminate boards just before getting to the very end of your project can be costly, both money-wise and time-wise. It's also never a bad idea to keep any extra pieces/cartons you have just incase there's damage in the future. Because of their click locking technology, it's incredibly easy to unclick laminate boards and replace damaged pieces. So, if you have room to store any extra you may have, do. 

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Overall Rating: 4.8 stars - 24 reviews

By:
Date: November 2, 2020
Page Rating: (4.5/5)
Comments:
Nice job. I always hold back a box of laminate for future repairs. No way years from now you can find a match.
By:
Date: January 12, 2020
Page Rating: (5.0/5)
Comments:
Easy to understand
By:
Date: October 9, 2018
Page Rating: (4.0/5)
Comments:
Just wondering how to calculate waste
By:
Date: September 11, 2018
Page Rating: (4.5/5)
Comments:
very helpful and easily understood..
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Date: July 26, 2018
Page Rating: (2.0/5)
Comments:
Basic stuff
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Date: June 21, 2018
Page Rating: (5.0/5)
Comments:
Simple, and to the point! Thank you for not adding "fluff." The ads on the page are annoying however.
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Date: March 21, 2018
Page Rating: (5.0/5)
Comments:
Very helpful...especially the 5% waste factor..thank you
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Date: November 29, 2017
Page Rating: (5.0/5)
Comments:
Very helpful....Thank you
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Date: October 11, 2017
Page Rating: (5.0/5)
Comments:
Exactly the information I was looking for!
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Date: September 2, 2017
Page Rating: (5.0/5)
Comments:
Appreciate learning how to figure square feet needed.

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