Reference
Coverage per Box, Carton and Roll by Flooring Material
What a box, carton or roll of each kind of flooring usually covers, and why the label on your product is the figure to use.
Why coverage varies so much
Flooring is sold in packages, and the package is labelled with the area it covers. Two products of the same kind can differ by a third: one laminate box holds eight planks of 7.5 × 48 inches, another ten planks of 5.4 × 47.7 inches, and their coverages are 19.6 and 22.1 square feet. Every calculator on this site asks for the coverage from your label for that reason, and starts with a typical figure only so the page shows a meaningful example. This page collects those typical figures, with the products they come from, so a label that looks wrong can be checked.
To turn coverage into boxes, divide the area with waste by the coverage and round up; the boxes and cartons calculator does it for any boxed product, and the unit converter translates labels printed in square metres.
Boxes and cartons
| Material | Typical coverage | Usual range | Example products and source | Calculators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porcelain tile, 12 × 24 in | 16 sq ft (8 pieces) | 12 to 16 sq ft | MSI and Daltile 12 × 24 in porcelain, manufacturer pages 2025 | floor tile, wall tile, shower tile |
| Subway tile, 3 × 6 in | 10 sq ft (80 pieces) | 5 to 12.5 sq ft | Common ceramic subway packaging | backsplash, wall tile |
| Mosaic sheets, 12 × 12 in | 10 sheets, 10 sq ft | 5 to 11 sheets | Mesh-mounted mosaic packaging | backsplash, shower tile |
| Solid hardwood strip, 2 1/4 to 3 1/4 in | 20 sq ft | 18 to 25 sq ft | Bruce Dundee, Plano and Kennedale strip, 20 sq ft cartons; allen + roth hickory 25 sq ft | hardwood |
| Engineered wood plank | 22 sq ft | 18 to 30 sq ft | Manufacturer product pages 2025 | engineered wood |
| Laminate | 19.6 sq ft | 17 to 25 sq ft | Pergo Outlast+ 19.6; Mohawk RevWood 19.63; Shaw Repel 22.09; TrafficMaster 17.26 | laminate |
| Luxury vinyl plank, 7 × 48 in | 23.6 sq ft | 18.9 to 26 sq ft | MSI 7 × 48 in, 23.77 sq ft per carton; other lines 18.91 to 26.15 | vinyl plank |
| Peel-and-stick vinyl tile, 12 × 12 in | 20 or 30 tiles | 20 to 45 tiles | Retail packaging | LVT and peel-and-stick |
| Cork click plank | 22.5 sq ft | 21 to 23 sq ft | Manufacturer pages | cork |
| Carpet tiles, 24 in or 50 cm | 16 tiles | 16 to 20 tiles | Manufacturer pages | carpet tiles |
Rolls
| Material | Roll width | Roll length or coverage | Notes | Calculators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broadloom carpet | 12 ft (some 13.5 and 15 ft); 4 or 5 m | cut to length | Bought by the linear foot of roll, priced per square yard | carpet, seam planner |
| Sheet vinyl | 6, 12 or 13.2 ft; 2, 3 or 4 m | cut to length | Bought by length; pattern match adds to the cut | sheet vinyl |
| Carpet pad | 6 ft | 30 to 45 ft (180 to 270 sq ft) | Butted and taped, not lapped | carpet padding |
| Foam underlayment | 40 to 44 in | 100 or 200 sq ft | 5% allowance for butted seams | underlayment |
| Rosin or felt paper | 36 in | 400 to 500 sq ft | Lapped 4 in under nailed wood | underlayment |
| 6 mil polyethylene | 10 to 20 ft | 25 to 100 ft | 6 to 8 in overlaps, taped | moisture barrier |
| Rubber gym flooring | 4 ft | cut to length, or 25 and 50 ft | About 1 lb per sq ft per 1/4 in | rubber gym flooring |
Sheets and pieces
| Product | Size | Coverage | Calculators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cement backer board | 3 × 5 ft or 4 × 8 ft | 15 or 32 sq ft | cement board |
| Subfloor plywood or OSB | 4 × 8 ft | 32 sq ft | subfloor panels |
| Underlayment plywood | 4 × 4 or 4 × 8 ft | 16 or 32 sq ft | subfloor panels |
| Interlocking garage tile | 12 in (some 18 and 24 in) | 1 sq ft each | garage tiles |
| Foam play mat | 24 in (some 12 in) | 4 sq ft each | foam play mats |
Reading a label
Coverage is printed on the end of the box and on the product page, usually as square feet per carton and pieces per carton. If only the piece count is given, multiply it by the face area of one piece: eight planks of 7.5 × 48 inches is 8 × 2.5 = 20 square feet, less a little for the tongue. A box labelled in square metres converts at 10.764 square feet per square metre. When the two figures on a label disagree, the square-foot figure is usually the one the maker means you to order by.
The guide to the units of flooring explains square feet, square yards and boxes, and the complete method for working out flooring shows how coverage fits into an order with waste.