Choosing carpet tiles is far different from sheet carpet because you have to consider many tiles will be needed to complete the project while allowing for any wastage. With sheet carpet, as long as you have the measurements of the surface area where you are laying the flooring down, you won’t go far wrong – you will have to remove all furniture from the room before installation and put it back again once the carpet is down.
In the case of carpet tile solutions, it is a little bit more involved as you will need to consider the size of each individual tile and work out how many will fit into the space you are renovating. This means you must be careful to ensure that you have measured out the space correctly, double and triple-checking your measurements before ordering your tiles.
The Size of Your Carpet Tiles
Not all carpet tiles measure the same, so pay close attention to the sizes of the tiles you are looking to order. The standard size is 50cm x 50cm, but selected ranges may come in smaller or larger sizes, and this is one of the reasons why we urge all customers to order a free sample of several styles of carpet tiles before purchasing.
With a standard size range of tiles, it is reasonably simple to calculate how many you would need based on the measurements of your area. For example, a room that measures 5m wide and 5m in length (25m²) would require 100 standard tiles to fill the area – however, we always recommend ordering at least 10% extra to account for wastage and human error. This means for an area measuring 25m², we would suggest increasing the order to at least 110 tiles.
Working Out How Many Carpet Tiles You Will Need
Without accounting for wastage, each square metre of space will require four standard size carpet tiles. The reason that we account for wastage is because unfortunately, the majority of rooms are not shaped in a perfect square or rectangle, with odd shapes and awkward areas meaning that, in practice, working out how many carpet tiles are needed is a little more complex.
The best way to calculate the number of tiles you will need is to break the area you are looking to install tiles down into as many easily manageable sections as possible. For example, a room with more than four walls will not be a straightforward square or rectangle, but it may be easily divided into multiple four-sided sections.
In this case, measure the area of each of the areas that make up the space. Calculate how many tiles will be needed to fill each segment, add these together and add 10% for your wastage.
For example, a room’s floor split into three sections could be split as:
- Segment one – 4m x 6m = 24m² (96 tiles)
- Segment two – 2m x 2m = 4m² (16 tiles)
- Segment three – 3m x 7m = 21m² (84 tiles)
96 tiles + 16 tiles + 84 tiles = 196 tiles. 196 + 10% = 213.6.
This means that, when rounding up to the nearest whole number, you would require 214 tiles (standard 50cm x 50cm tiles) when accounting for 10% wastage to fill the space as outlined above.
Why Accounting for Waste is Important
Adding the extra 10% to the total for your order of carpet tiles is important because this allows room for error in case any mistakes are made during the installation. The wastage also allows for cuttings that can be used in awkward areas of odd-shaped rooms, of which there may be plenty.
Additional tiles also mean that you can store them away in the event single tiles become damaged for any reason, allowing you to quickly replace the tile without placing another order. Tiles from the same batch will perfectly match in colour and pattern, whereas this cannot be guaranteed for tiles made in separate batches – even if they are in the same range. An odd tile will stick out like a sore thumb on your floor, completely ruining the aesthetic.
This is one of the main reasons why many commercial and private clients are opting for carpet floor tiles due to the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of maintenance over sheet carpet, which would require complete removal. When sheet carpet is damaged, even in an isolated space, the entire carpet needs replacing which can be expensive, time-consuming and a complete and utter inconvenience.
Order from Carpet Floor Tiles
If you need help in working out how many carpet tiles you will need, or if you are ready to order your new flooring solution, please get in contact with us today or view our range of tiles here.
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