From living room flooring to bedroom flooring to bathroom and kitchen coverings, any renovation project will eventually require you to ask, “How many tiles do I need?” Perhaps you’re attempting to calculate the cost of the tiles required for these projects. Or are you ready to place an order but are unsure how to calculate the number of tiles needed for these projects? This blog strives to make the process of calculating tiles for flooring as simple as possible!
How can I calculate and purchase the necessary tiles?
The work of calculating and ordering is pretty simple, even if it’s quite easy to forget the most obvious elements when ordering tiles and then discover that you don’t have enough for laying.
To start, measure the area that needs to be tiled and add the waste factor, which is the proportion of tiles that are wasted during cutting or trimming. Given that larger joints invariably result in fewer tiles and a different laying pattern, the waste factor must consider the joint size. For instance, a horizontal pattern uses fewer tiles than a diagonal one.
The size of the tiles has an impact on waste as well. Larger tiles produce more trash than smaller ones, such as 2020 cm or 3030 cm tiles. Additionally, consider any necessary obstacles you might encounter while arranging the tiles. A higher waste factor is indicated by pillars, sections, columns, for example, or irregularly shaped rooms. Generally speaking, the waste factor decreases with the increasing tiled area.
It is standard practice in the sector to leave an 8–10% margin for “wastage.” 15% is an acceptable proportion, nevertheless, if the area to be tiled is a bathroom with several intricate forms, such as boxes that cover plumbing or alcoves in the shower area.
If you’re installing floor tiles in multiple rooms and need a seamless transition between them, add 15% more if the rooms have significantly different sizes and shapes, as well as if the hallway is involved. Because the hallway is frequently irregularly shaped in contrast to a kitchen or dining area, more cuts are usually necessary, which results in more waste.
Imagine you have to build a normal rectangular room without pillars or any other essential components in a 200-square-metre residence. You have decided to lay medium-sized porcelain tiles in a straight pattern, such as 6060 cm tiles. You should order 220 square metres of tiles because the waste ratio to take into account when calculating tiles for flooring is 10%.
Now imagine that you wish to use 6060 cm tiles to cover the walls of a small bathroom (8 square metres). In this case, 20% waste should be taken into account, thus you should order tiles that are 9.6 square metres in size.
Second, if the tile you’re buying is about to be phased out, it’s usually a good idea to buy extra since the supplier might no longer have that tile, or that batch of tiles if you need more!
We must first calculate the circumference of the space and multiply it by the height of the wall area that has to be tiled to establish the number of porcelain tiles needed for our bathroom walls.
We suggest adding an 8% waste factor rather than deducting the sizes of the door and window apertures to make things simpler.
Finally, we advise against modifying the laying pattern after you have received the tiles. You will run out of tiles when placing them if you decide on a horizontal pattern and then change to a diagonal pattern.
