How Much Laminate or Hardwood Flooring Do I Need?

Running out of flooring mid-job is a nightmare. You stop work, rush back to the shop, hope the same batch is still in stock — and discover it isn't. The boards from the new delivery are ever so slightly different in shade. That's a problem you can avoid entirely with one simple calculation before you start.

Whether you're laying laminate, engineered hardwood or solid wood flooring, the maths is the same. Here's how to figure out exactly how many packs you need, including an allowance for cut waste based on your chosen laying pattern.

Step 1: Measure the floor area

Start with the basics. Measure the length and width of the room and multiply them together to get the floor area in square metres. For straightforward rectangular rooms this is quick work. For L-shaped rooms or spaces with alcoves, split the floor into rectangles, calculate each one separately, then add them together.

Measure to the walls before any skirting boards are removed. You'll be laying the flooring to the wall, not the skirting, so this gives you the correct area. If the room has a bay window or fireplace hearth, measure those spaces separately and add or subtract as needed.

Step 2: Add cut waste based on your laying pattern

Not every plank ends up on the floor intact. Every time you cut a plank to fit at the end of a row, you're left with a short offcut. The amount of waste depends directly on the laying pattern you choose — diagonal and herringbone patterns require far more cuts than a straightforward parallel layout.

The straight pattern is the most efficient — planks run parallel to the longest wall and offcuts from one row often start the next. Diagonal patterns waste more because every board meets the wall at an angle, meaning more is cut off. Herringbone and chevron patterns involve cutting every single plank to a specific angle or length, so waste is higher still.

Step 3: Convert square metres to packs

Flooring is sold in packs, and each pack covers a fixed number of square metres — this is always printed on the packaging. Divide your total required area by the coverage per pack, then always round up to the nearest whole pack. You cannot buy half a pack, and you cannot afford to run short.

Pack coverage varies by product. A standard 1.2 m laminate plank pack often covers around 2.1–2.5 m², while wider engineered hardwood boards may cover more per pack. Always check the specific product before calculating — don't assume.

Common mistakes to avoid

These are the errors that catch people out most often when buying flooring:

• Not accounting for waste. Buying exactly the m² you measured almost guarantees you'll run short. Always add the waste percentage for your pattern.
• Mixing batches. Boards from different production batches can vary slightly in colour or texture. Order everything at once so it all comes from the same batch — look for a matching batch number on the packaging.
• Skipping acclimatisation. This is the most common DIY mistake. Two days of patience can save you from buckled or gapping floorboards a week after installation.
• Forgetting underlay. Most laminate requires an underlay beneath it. Check whether your chosen product includes underlay pre-attached, or whether you need to buy and calculate it separately.
• Not measuring L-shapes properly. Treating an L-shaped room as one rectangle instead of two will give you the wrong area — sometimes significantly over or under.