Measure Your Floor / Calculate Square Footage Needed

    1. Measure your floor. The simplest way is just to measure the length and width of the overall space where the flooring will go, then multiply the width times the length. For example, if you are doing your whole first floor, just measure the width and length of the inside of the house, then multiply those two numbers, e.g., 30 feet x 40 feet = 1,200 square feet. The simple approach doesn’t take into account any exceptions, such as a bathroom on the first floor that won’t be included in this flooring project, and it doesn’t take into account features such as walls and cabinets that cover areas that won’t need flooring.
    To get a more precise measurement, measure each little part of the floor separately. For example, a bedroom might have a main area that’s 12 feet by 15 feet (12 x 15 = 180 square feet) plus a closet that’s 3 by 6 ( 3 x 6 = 18sf) plus a little nook that’s 3 x 3 (9sf). The total square footage for the bedroom is 180 + 18 + 9 = 207 square feet. Add up all these separate parts until you’ve counted all the specific spaces you want to put flooring in.
    Here’s a link to a floor measurement web site that calculates square footage of triangular and circular spaces.

    2. Add extra/overage. This is for several reasons: Some wood will be wasted as boards are cut to the exact sizes of your rooms. There is a great deal of variation from board to board, and having extra wood gives you much greater freedom to work with the colors and grain patterns creatively in designing your layout. This wood is a natural product, and some grades (not all) have cracks, knots, knot holes and nail holes; these features give the wood a great deal of character and beauty, but you may choose to cull out a few boards or parts of boards. You may also want to keep a few boards tucked away in case you need to make a repair years or decades later. Again, check the description of your particular grade of flooring for a recommendation of what percentage of overage to add, and feel free to discuss it with us!

Home Longleaf Flooring Longleaf FAQ Specials Contact Resources

Old Texas Floors phone / text: 512-694-1322