How to measure for vinyl plank, laminate and tile.

1. Measure each room, closet and hallway separately.

Sketch the area getting the new floor and name each space: kitchen, hall, bedroom 2, pantry. Measure each one on its own, including closets, and work out its square footage. Split L-shaped rooms into rectangles that do not overlap. Our square footage guide covers feet and inches, angled corners and round areas.

Separate measurements help in two ways. They make mistakes easier to spot, and they show where one long run of flooring may need a break. Many floating floors have a maximum run length or need an expansion gap at doorways. Check the manufacturer’s installation instructions for your product.

2. Leave out cabinets, islands and other fixed items.

Kitchen cabinets, islands, built-in vanities and raised hearths usually stay where they are. Many floating-floor manufacturers do not allow fixed cabinets or islands to sit on top of the floor, so the new floor stops at them. Measure each fixed item and subtract it. If you measured wall to wall, take off the base cabinets along the walls too; they are usually about 24 in deep. Furniture and appliances that move are not subtracted.

For example, a 16 ft × 13 ft kitchen is 208 sq ft. Take away a 7 ft × 3 ft 6 in island (7 × 3.5 = 24.5 sq ft) and the floor area is 183.5 sq ft. Keep both figures in your notes in case the plan changes.

3. Decide where each floor stops.

Mark every doorway on your sketch and decide where the new floor ends. It often stops under the door, centered in the opening, where a transition strip covers the joint to the next floor. Transitions are also needed where the floor height changes, for example from tile to carpet.

Add the small strip of floor inside each doorway. A 36 in opening with a 5 in deep jamb adds 36 × 5 = 180 sq in, or 1.25 sq ft. That is small, but eight doorways add 10 sq ft.

Transition strips, thresholds and stair nosings are bought by the piece or by length, not by area. List each one with its width.

4. Add waste for your product, layout and installer.

Every installation loses some material to cuts at walls, end pieces too short to reuse and damaged boards or tiles. How much depends on the product, the plank or tile size, the shape of the rooms and the layout.

• Straight plank layouts in simple rooms: many installers start around 5 to 10%.
• Diagonal layouts: every wall gets angled cuts, so many installers start higher, around 15%.
• Herringbone and chevron: many installers start around 15 to 20%, sometimes more in small rooms.
• Tile: large tiles, patterned layouts and breakage can push the allowance higher again.

These are starting points, not rules. Follow the manufacturer’s guidance and your installer’s figure; they know the product and the rooms.

5. Round up to whole cartons.

Vinyl plank, laminate and most tile are sold by the carton. Each carton covers a set number of square feet, printed on the box or the product page. Divide your total, including waste, by the carton coverage and round up. Never round down; you cannot buy part of a carton.

Buy all the cartons at once, from the same lot or batch when you can, so color and shade match. Ask the store about returning unopened cartons before you buy extra. Some people keep a few leftover planks or tiles for future repairs.

6. Tile: pattern, grout and trim.

Tile layout affects the order more than plank layout does. A brick or offset pattern, a diagonal set or herringbone means more cut tiles at every wall. Large-format tiles leave bigger offcuts and usually need a flatter subfloor, which your installer checks before work starts.

Grout joints change how many tiles fit along a wall, but they do not change the floor area, so order by area and carton coverage. Many installers plan the layout from the center of the room, so the cut tiles at opposite walls are the same width and no thin slivers end up at a doorway.

Trim is bought by length. For quarter round or new baseboard, start with the room perimeter and take off the door openings. A 16 ft × 14 ft room has a perimeter of 16 + 14 + 16 + 14 = 60 ft. Minus one 3 ft doorway, that is 57 ft of trim before cuts.

Measure the rooms with I Measure Pro.

I Measure Pro measures each room with your Android phone camera. Tap the corners in order and close the outline to get the floor plan, wall lengths, floor area and perimeter. Save closets as their own areas, add a hole (no flooring) for an island or hearth so it comes off the quantities, and mark doors, open doorways and transitions. A border width separates a border area, which helps when a tile border frames the field.

Send the PDF report to the store or your installer, or export a CSV spreadsheet of the measurements. The app gives measured areas. It is not a quote, a carton calculator or a cut plan. Confirm important sizes with a tape or laser before ordering. Start with how to measure a room on Android.