How to measure a room for flooring

Whether you’re getting quotes or buying flooring to be fitted, a rough measurement helps you plan and budget. It’s straightforward for square and rectangular rooms, and only a little trickier for awkward shapes. Here’s how — though for an exact order, we always measure on site.

You’ll need a tape measure, a pen and paper (or your phone), and a couple of minutes per room.

Step by step

• Measure the length of the room at its longest point, wall to wall.
• Measure the width at its widest point, wall to wall.
• Multiply length × width to get the area in square metres (m²).
• Add wastage — roughly 10% for straightforward rooms, more for patterned floors or lots of cuts.
• Include doorways and alcoves — measure into bays, recesses and thresholds.
• For L-shaped rooms, split into rectangles, work out each, and add them together.

A worked example

Say a bedroom is 4.2 m long and 3.5 m wide: 4.2 × 3.5 = 14.7 m². Add 10% wastage (about 1.5 m²) and you’d order around 16.2 m². For carpet on a roll, the roll width (usually 4 m or 5 m) also affects how much you need — another reason a professional measure pays off.

Why a site measure still matters

These steps give a good estimate, but flooring is cut from set roll or pack sizes, and seams, pattern-matching and room shape all affect the final quantity. Order short and you’ll be waiting on more; order blind and you’ll overpay. Ben measures precisely as part of every free quote — and can advise on quantities if you’re buying your own.

Measuring questions