How to Calculate Tongue and Groove Flooring

1. Measure the length.

2. Measure the width.

3. Multiply the length and width to find the area in square feet. For example, if your room is 10 feet long and 8 feet wide, the area would be 10 x 8 = 80 square feet.

Determine Tongue and Groove Coverage

1. Refer to the product specifications provided by the manufacturer of your chosen flooring.

2. Find "board coverage" or "coverage" in the specifications sheet. This will indicate how many square feet a single board covers. For demonstration purposes, let us assume one tongue and groove board covers 20 square feet.

Calculate the Amount of Flooring Needed

1. Divide the total area of your room by the coverage of one board. For instance, if your room is 80 square feet and one board covers 20 square feet, the calculation would be 80 ÷ 20 = 4.

2. Round up to the nearest whole number. In this example, you would need 4 boards.

Account for Waste (10%-15%)

1. Take the number of boards you calculated and multiply by 0.10 (10%) or 0.15 (15%) to account for cutting waste. For a purchase of 4 boards and allowing for 10% waste, the calculation would be 4 x 0.10 = 0.4.

2. Add this number to the total number of boards needed. In our example, 4 boards + 0.4 boards = 4.4 boards.

3. Round up to the nearest whole number. For an estimate of 10% waste, you would need to purchase 5 boards.

Conclusion

To summarize, calculating the tongue and groove flooring requirement for a room involves measuring the room's dimensions to find its area, determining the coverage of each tongue and groove board provided by the manufacturer, calculating the number of boards needed by dividing the floor area by the board coverage, and adding an allowance for cutting waste (typically 10% to 15%). This calculation ensures that you have sufficient material for your flooring project with a reasonable amount of waste.