Reference
Flooring Waste Factors by Material and Layout
How much extra flooring to order for each material and layout, and the adjustments that move the figure up or down.
The base table
Waste is the share of the flooring you buy that ends up in offcuts, broken pieces and rejects. It is added to the measured area before dividing by the box coverage. The base figure depends on the material and the layout; the adjustments below depend on the room and the job. These are the figures the waste factor calculator uses, and the defaults in every quantity calculator on the site.
| Material | Straight or brick | Diagonal (45°) | Herringbone or chevron |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ceramic and porcelain tile | 10% | 15% | 20% |
| Large-format tile (15 in and up) | 12% | 18% | 22% |
| Natural stone | 12% | 17% | 22% |
| Solid hardwood (No. 1 Common) | 10% | 15% | 20% |
| Engineered wood and laminate | 10% | 15% | 20% |
| Vinyl plank and tile | 10% | 15% | 20% |
| Carpet tiles | 5% (3% random) | 10% | 10% |
Sources: tile, laminate and resilient flooring manufacturers’ estimating guidance and their own online calculators (Daltile, MSI, Pergo, Mohawk), and the National Wood Flooring Association’s installation guidelines for wood grades. They agree closely on the straight and diagonal figures; herringbone figures range from 15 to 25%, and 20% is the middle.
Adjustments
| Situation | Adjustment | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A closet, an alcove or several doorways | +2% | More cut pieces per square foot |
| Many corners, angles, a bay or an island | +5% | Many more cuts, fewer reusable offcuts |
| A room under 50 sq ft (5 m²) | +3% | More wall per square foot |
| Clear or select grade wood | −5% | Few boards rejected for defects |
| Rustic, character or cabin grade wood | +5% | More boards with knots and defects cut out |
| Printed or directional pattern with few faces | +5% | Pieces set aside to avoid identical neighbours |
| First-time DIY installer | +3% | More bad cuts while learning |
Where waste comes from
Cuts at the walls. Every row ends in a cut, and the offcut from one end often starts the next row in a straight layout of plank. In a diagonal or herringbone layout the offcuts are triangles or angled pieces that rarely fit anywhere else, which is why those layouts waste more. The diagonal and herringbone calculator estimates the cuts from a room’s own perimeter and uses the higher of that and the table.
Defects and grade. Wood grades are defined by how many knots, mineral streaks and colour changes are allowed. A select grade has few, a rustic grade many, and the boards you will not put in the middle of the room are waste. The hardwood calculator builds its allowance from the grade and the layout.
Breakage and mistakes. A tile cracked in the box, a plank whose tongue snapped, a cut made on the wrong line. Professionals make fewer; first-timers more.
Rolls are different. Carpet and sheet vinyl waste is set by the roll width, not a percentage: a room just over the roll width can waste 40%. The carpet calculator and the sheet vinyl calculator work it out from the strips.
Waste and spare are not the same
Rounding up to whole boxes adds spare on top of the waste. The waste is used and thrown away; the spare is unused flooring you keep for repairs. The boxes and cartons calculator shows both. Keeping at least a few spare pieces, ideally a sealed box, matters because colour and size vary between production runs.
The guide to waste factors explains each figure in more depth, and the floor tile calculator, the vinyl plank calculator and the laminate calculator apply them.