Flooring estimates: keep pack coverage and room area separate

A pack may contain several boards and cover a non-round area. Enter the labelled area per pack, not the area of one plank, in a pack calculator. Keep the measurement unit visible on the note you take to the supplier.

A worked example

Item	Example or check
Room area	23 m²
Chosen allowance	8%
Target	24.84 m²
Pack coverage	2.22 m²
Purchase	12 packs = 26.64 m²

Check the assumptions

Rounding each room independently can produce a different purchase count from pooling all rooms. Pooling assumes material can be shared between rooms and that offcuts are reusable. Record the assumption so the installer can assess it.

For an L-shaped floor, split the area into two non-overlapping rectangles. Add their areas before applying allowance. A sketch prevents counting a corner twice. If there are fixed obstacles, measure them separately rather than estimating them from memory.

Before using the estimate

An area-only count does not choose board direction, joint spacing, transitions or an installation method. Follow the flooring manufacturer’s instructions and ask the installer to check the final pack order.

Open the Flooring Calculator and compare your measurements with the example.