How to Measure the Size of a Room

Before you go shopping for your new laminate or vinyl flooring, it’s important to know how much you will need and that means you will need to know how to measure a room. There are various ways to do this depending on the tools you have available.

But before we get to the measuring, remember that you will always need to add in an extra 5% wastage to your total square meterage. For narrow rooms or irregularly shaped rooms we recommend adding 10% and for herringbone flooring you should add 15%.

1. Measure using a tape measure: This is the easiest method. Measure the length and width of the room, and then multiply those two numbers to get the square footage.

2. Measure using a laser measure: Laser measures (which you can buy fairly inexpensively online or from a hardware store) can be used to measure the length and width of a room quickly and accurately. Many laser measures on the market today also can calculate the square meterage automatically.

3. Measure a floor plan: If you are building a new house or adding on a new room, you will have a floor plan of the room. Measure the length and width of the room as it is depicted on the plan, and then multiply those two numbers to get the square meterage.

4. Measure using a smartphone app: There are many smartphone apps that can be used to measure the size of a room using the phone’s camera. We recommend Roomscan Classic for iPhone users and AR Plan 3D Tape Measure for Android users.

And remember that if you are ever uncertain about your measurements or how to calculate the amount of flooring you will need, simply contact your nearest Flooring Solutions branch and a member of our team will be happy to pop out to your home and assist.