Softonic

Tile Calculator

Step 1 / 4 Tiles to buy

Room dimensions

Next

Buying tiles is one of those home-improvement purchases where turning up 10 tiles short means a colour-matched special order, a week’s delay and a grumpy fitter. This calculator does the room-area and tile-area maths for you, adds the cutting-waste margin you choose (10% by default) and rounds up to whole tiles, so you leave the shop with what the job actually needs.

How tile count is calculated

  1. 1

    Enter room dimensions

    Length and width of the area to cover, in metres, centimetres, feet or inches. Subtract fixed features like a built-in island.

  2. 2

    Enter tile dimensions

    The size of a single tile in cm, mm, m, inches or feet: 30 × 30 cm, 60 × 60 cm, subway 7.5 × 15 cm, and so on.

  3. 3

    Choose a waste percentage

    10% suits rectangular rooms with straight cuts; use 15% or more for diagonal patterns or rooms with many obstacles.

  4. 4

    Read the result

    The calculator divides the room area by the area of one tile, applies your waste percentage and rounds up to a whole tile. It also shows the floor and tile areas in square metres and the exact unrounded count.

Worked example

A 4 × 3 m room laid with 60 × 60 cm tiles and 10% waste:

Step Value
Floor area 4 × 3 = 12 m²
Tile area 0.6 × 0.6 = 0.36 m²
Exact count 12 / 0.36 = 33.3 tiles
With 10% waste 33.3 × 1.10 = 36.7, rounded up to 37 tiles

Whatever units you enter, the calculator converts everything internally and reports both areas in square metres.

Waste percentages by pattern

Pattern Recommended waste
Straight lay 10%
Brick (50% offset) 12%
Herringbone 15%
Diagonal (45°) 15-20%
Chevron 20%
Basketweave 15%

Rooms with many obstacles (islands, pillars, corners, L-shapes) push all of these up by another 2-5%.

Boxes, not tiles

Tiles are sold in boxes. If each box holds 8 tiles and you need 92, buy 12 boxes (96 tiles), not 11.5. Round up to the next full box and keep one unopened box as a reserve for future repairs: manufacturers change dye lots between batches, so a matching replacement years later is usually impossible. For a quick budget, multiply boxes by the price per box, or the tiled area including waste by the price per square metre: 13.2 m² at $25 per m² is about $330.

What the result includes

The result is a tile count based on the room rectangle, the face area of one tile and your chosen waste percentage. It does not adjust for grout-joint width, tile thickness, adhesive or grout quantity. When a floor or wall is not one simple rectangle, measure each section separately and add the tile counts together.

Common mistakes

  • Forgetting pattern direction. A herringbone floor in a narrow hallway wastes fewer tiles when the chevrons run along the long axis, not across it.
  • Ignoring the first-row cut. Set out from the room centre, not from a wall: you get symmetric cuts at both edges instead of full tiles on one side and slivers on the other.
  • Mixing dye lots. Tiles from different batches differ subtly in shade. Open all boxes before starting and blend tiles across them.
  • Guessing complex layouts. For L-shapes and rooms with alcoves, sketch the floor, split it into rectangles, calculate each one and add the counts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Because tiles get cut at every edge of the room, around every pipe, and a few break during handling. A 4 × 3 m room with 60 cm tiles still produces dozens of partial cuts, and most offcuts cannot be reused. 10% is the practical floor, 15% is normal, and 20% is safer for anything laid diagonally or patterned.

Room dimensions accept metres, centimetres, feet and inches; tile dimensions accept centimetres, millimetres, metres, inches and feet, in any combination. Everything is converted internally, and the resulting areas are always displayed in square metres.

No. It uses the face dimensions of the tile and does not ask for a joint width or estimate grout. Use the tile count for purchasing, then work out grout separately from the manufacturer’s coverage data.

Often yes: where sizes line up, saving a cut piece for the opposite edge of the same room is standard practice. You cannot plan it perfectly, which is why waste is a range rather than a fixed number.

The dimensions are sent to our server when the calculator updates, and the step-by-step mode includes them in the page URL so your result can be shown. Avoid entering information you consider sensitive.

Related Tools

BMI Calculator

Calculate body mass index from height and weight. Shows WHO category, healthy-weight range and limitations of BMI.

Fahrenheit to Celsius Converter

Convert Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius with the exact formula, Kelvin output and common reference points for weather, cooking and health.

Name Compatibility Calculator

Enter two names and get a playful compatibility score plus the Pythagorean numerology number of each name. Works with the Latin alphabet (A to Z), so transliterate other scripts first.

Chemical Equation Balancer

Balance chemical equations with integer coefficients. Enter reactants and products, then check atoms on both sides with a per-element table.

Clock Out Time Calculator

Calculate your clock-out time from your clock-in time, required paid hours and unpaid breaks. Handles overnight shifts and shows 12- and 24-hour time.

Social Security Calculator

Your US Social Security retirement benefit for any start month from 62 to 70, from your date of birth and your PIA or AIME, with totals and the break-even age.

Tool available in other languages