Estimating Your Hardwood Requirements

Once you have measured the total area of the room, you can now measure any areas that will not be included in the installation, such as an area covered by a built in unit, and subtract this square footage from the overall area of the room. Once the total area to be covered has been calculated, add an additional 10% to this figure for cutting and wastage.

Note that 10% is the manufacturer’s recommended waste factor for installing hardwood floors horizontally. If you plan on installing your floors on a diagonal then you will require a 15% waste factor. Additional provisions must be made for complex patterns such as a herringbone design and this should be estimated by your sales person or hardwood installer based upon the exact design and relative to the length of the hardwood planks purchased. Note that this waste factor is not a ploy to sell you more hardwood; instead it is an amount that will be required due to cutting and the resultant wastage.

Hardwood flooring is sold per box and cannot be purchased by the piece. The amount of material packed in a box is stated in square foot and varies according to product and brand, but is consistent for a particular product. The final step is to calculate the number of boxes required and this is done by taking the overall area of the room including the waste factor and dividing this by the square foot per box of hardwood. Always round the final figure upwards to the next full carton in order to avoid any shortage.

Next you will estimate the amount of trims and moldings required to complete the installation, and this is calculated in linear foot. Trims and moldings are manufactured in uniform lengths and sold per piece. Each manufacturer has their own standard lengths and once you have this information, you simply divide your required length by the linear measurement of the molding. Always round the final figure upwards to the next full piece.

Example:

Total area: 100 x 50 = 5000 s/f
Tiled area: 60 x 10 = 600 s/f
Total area to be covered: 5000 – 600 = 4400s/f
Add waste factor of 10%: 4400 x 10% = 4840s/f

s/f per box = 24.50s/f

Therefore boxes required: 4840/24.50 = 197.55 boxes
Round up to next full box: 198 boxes.