12 × 10 ft room, 600 × 600 mm tiles, 10% wastage
11.1 m² and 31 tiles without wastage. Order 35 tiles, which is 9 boxes of 4.
Tile calculator
The room is a plain rectangle. Wastage covers cuts and breakage; 10% is usual and 15% for diagonal or patterned layouts. Grout lines are ignored.
ft
ft
%
Enter the price per sq ft (optional).
Tiles to buy
35
120.0 sq ft (11.1 m²) plus 10% for cuts. That is 9 boxes of 4.
- Floor area
- 120.0 sq ft
- Tile area
- 0.36 m²
- Without wastage
- 31
How many tiles will a room really take?
The rule is to divide the floor area by the tile area, then add something for cuts. Most buying mistakes come from a missing unit conversion, since rooms are measured in feet and tiles in millimetres.
A 12 × 10 ft room is 120 sq ft, which is 11.15 m². A 600 × 600 mm tile covers 0.36 m². So the plain count is 31 tiles. Add 10% for cuts and breakage and you need 35 tiles. If a box holds 4 tiles, that is 9 boxes, which is 36 tiles, one spare.
Layout changes the extra. A diagonal pattern wastes more at the edges, so use 15%. A room with pillars and alcoves, or a very large format such as 1200 × 1200 mm, can waste more too. When in doubt, ask the mason for a layout sketch before ordering.
Keep one or two spare tiles from the same batch after the job. If a tile cracks in five years, a perfect match is almost impossible to find.
Sources
What this calculator does not account for
- Grout lines and spacers.
- Complex layouts and borders.
- Skirting and stair tiles.
How this is calculated
Formula: Tiles from floor area
tiles =floor area × (1 + wastage) ÷ tile area, rounded upWhat the symbols mean
- floor areaLength × width, converted to square metres (1 sq ft = 0.0929 m²).
- tile areaTile length × width in metres.
Good to know
- Boxes = tiles ÷ tiles per box, rounded up.
- Use 15% wastage for diagonal or patterned layouts.
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Worked examples
Each example is worked out by the same code as the calculator above.
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<iframe src="/embed/tile-calculator" title="Tile calculator" width="100%" height="720" style="border:0;max-width:42rem" loading="lazy"></iframe>Questions
How much extra should I buy?
About 10% for a straight layout and 15% for diagonal. Small rooms with many cuts need more.
Why buy all tiles together?
Shade and size vary slightly between batches. A later top-up may not match.
What is a 2 × 2 ft tile in mm?
600 × 600 mm, the most common floor size in Indian homes.
Does the tool include grout?
No. Grout lines are ignored. For very small tiles, include a bit more.