How many tiles do I need to get for one room

Calculation the amount of tiles for a certain area (manual and easy way)

Quantity of tile needed for the room depends on how many square footage of the area you have and size of the tile you choose. Standard tile sizes are 4 x 4 in, 6 x 6 in, 9 x 9 in, 12 x 12 in, 18 x 18 in.

How to do your own calculations in simple way

What to start from?

First of all, you should measure the area you wish to put tile on.

It is very important to get exact measurements of height and length in order to minimize possibility of occurring further mistakes. A couple of examples will be given below to get you an idea how it works that you could do the calculation yourself without any difficulties.

Example #1

If you plan to tile a 10 feet (H) by 10 feet (L) bathroom then you should multiply 10 x 10 which will give you 100 sq. ft. That is the area you need to cover with the tile you choose.

Tile dimensions usually measured in inches. Converting square feet in square inches should be done for simplicity of further calculation. 100 sq. ft. equal 14,400 sq. in.

Once you are done with your floor computations, you can start to determine what your tile measurements are. For example, if you chose to use 4 x 4 inches tile then you will need to multiply 4 x 4 which will give you 16 square inches or the area which will be covered by one tile.

Lastly you need to divide total area, in our example 14,400 square inches, by the area which will be covered by one tile or 16 sq. in. in our case what will give us 900 tiles. If you are going to tile the floor as a do it yourself project then it is not just recommended, but wise to buy more to allow some waste. In most cases not professional installers have more waste than professionals. You can return to the store all unused tile (if any).

Example #2

If you need to tile 5 feet (H) x 10 feet (L) hallway and you wish to use 6 x 6 tiles, then:

1) 5 feet x 12 in = 60 in

2) 10 feet x 12 in = 120 in

3) 60 in x 120 in = 7,200 sq. in. - floor

4) 6 in x 6 in = 36 sq. in

5) 7,200 sq. in / 36 sq. in = 200 tiles needed for the floor

Example #3

There is also another way of calculation – converting tile area in square feet.

If you need to tile 5 x 10 hallway and you wish to use 6 in tile, then:

1) Area 5 x 10 = 50 ft²

2) Tile size 6 x 6 = 36 in² or 0.25 ft²

3) Number of tiles 50 / 0.25 = 200

The following table will show the amount of some standard tile necessary to cover certain room size.

Tile size in inches*	Floor area in feet
Tile size in inches*	6 x 6	6 x 8	5 x 10	10 x 10	12 x 12
4 x 4	324	432	450	900	1,296
6 x 6	144	192	200	400	576
9 x 9	64	86	89	178	265
12 x 12	36	48	50	100	144
18 x 18	16	22	23	45	64

* Purchase at least 5-10 % more tile than your calculations or numbers taken from the table. Tile can be broken either during transportation or installation. This table is just an example of calculation how many tile you need per a room.

While calculating amount of tile necessary to tile a surface do not count spaces between tiles which typically vary from 1/16 to 1/4 of an inch.

You can figure out numbers of tiles needed for your floor covering by looking on its boxes which indicate how many square feet as well as numbers of tiles it contains.