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Tile & Flooring Calculator
Calculate tile, flooring, underlayment, thinset and grout for a room with waste.
Order this many boxes
15boxes
228.8 sq ft of ceramic / porcelain tile including 10% waste, which comes to 232.5 sq ft ordered.
- Net floor area
- 208.0 sq ft
- With wasteStraight lay adds 10%
- 228.8 sq ft
- Pieces needed12 × 24 in tile at 2.00 sq ft each
- 115
- Flooring cost$4.30 per net square foot once waste is paid for
- $895
- Material total$5.79 per square foot, all materials
- $1,205
| Item | Quantity | Unit | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ceramic / porcelain tile — 12 × 24 in tile | 15 | boxes (15.5 sq ft each) | $895 |
| ¼ in cement backer board (3 × 5 ft sheets) | 15 | sheets | $210 |
| Modified thinset mortar | 3 | 50 lb bags | $72 |
| Grout — 10.2 lb required | 1 | 25 lb bags | $28 |
| Material total | $1,205 |
Add one more box than the math says
Tile and flooring are produced in dye lots and runs get discontinued constantly. A repair three years from now with a different lot number will never match. Ordering 16 boxes instead of 15 costs about $60 and is the cheapest insurance in the whole renovation. Keep the spare box flat, indoors, with the lot number written on it.
| Pattern | Waste | Square feet | Boxes | Flooring cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight lay | 10% | 228.8 | 15 | $895 |
| Brick / offset | 12% | 233.0 | 16 | $955 |
| Diagonal | 15% | 239.2 | 16 | $955 |
| Herringbone | 20% | 249.6 | 17 | $1,014 |
Setting material estimate
Grout is figured from the standard coverage formula — joint width times joint depth across the perimeter of every tile — at roughly 100 lb per cubic foot of powder. Your 12 × 24 in tile tile at a 0.1250 in joint works out to 4.9 lb per 100 sq ft. Narrow the joint or go to a larger tile and that number falls fast.
What this assumes
- Waste factor defaults to 10% for straight lay, 15% for diagonal and 20% for herringbone.
- Thinset and grout coverage vary by trowel notch and joint width; values shown are typical.
- Boxed flooring must be purchased in whole boxes, which the result accounts for.
Understanding the result
Buy the waste and buy the attic stock
Beyond cut waste, buy an extra box. Tile and flooring are produced in dye lots and runs are discontinued constantly; a repair three years from now with a different lot number will never match. One spare box is the cheapest insurance in a renovation.
Pattern drives waste more than room size
A straight lay in a rectangular room wastes about 10%. The same tile in a herringbone pattern wastes 20% or more because nearly every perimeter piece is a diagonal cut. Choose the pattern before you order.
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