Advanced Tile Calculator
How many boxes of tiles do I need?
Pick what you're tiling, enter your size and tile details, and get the exact number of boxes to buy — with optional grout spacing, skirting, waste and cost. Built for floors, walls, bathrooms and kitchens.
Your project
How to use this tile calculator
This tool works out how many boxes of tiles to buy for any room. You can enter your size two ways: by measurement — where floors use length × breadth and walls use the wall length × height — or by total area if you already know the square footage. Then enter your tile size and pieces per box, and it tells you the boxes to order.
Floors (room & bathroom)
Enter the room's length × breadth. The area is the two multiplied together. You can also tick Add skirting to include the tile border along the base of the walls.
Walls (room, bathroom & kitchen)
For walls you enter the wall length you actually want to tile and the height, and the calculator multiplies them. This is more flexible than assuming all four walls — if you're only tiling one wall or a specific run, just enter that length. To tile a whole room, add up the length of each wall and enter the total.
- Room wall — wall length × chosen height.
- Bathroom wall — the same, and each door you enter removes 2.5 ft from the length so the doorway isn't tiled.
- Kitchen wall — enter the length of each of the four walls you're tiling and the wall height. It adds the walls together, removes any doorways, and multiplies by the height. Leave a wall at 0 if you're not tiling it.
Entering by total area
If you've already measured — or the room is an odd shape like an L — switch to By total area and type the square footage in directly. For an L-shape, split it into rectangles, work out each, and add them together.
Why the grout gap matters
Tiles are never laid touching each other — there's always a small joint filled with grout. That gap, usually 2–3 mm, means each tile effectively takes up slightly more space than its raw size. A 600 mm tile with a 3 mm joint really occupies about 603 mm. Accounting for it gives a more accurate count. For a tight, grout-free look or a countertop, set the gap to 0.
Adding skirting
Skirting is the short band of tile that runs along the bottom of the walls, protecting them and giving a neat floor-to-wall finish. It's cut from the same floor tiles, so it adds to your order. When you tick Add skirting on a floor job, the calculator takes the room perimeter, subtracts your doorways, multiplies by the skirting height, and adds that area to the floor. As a rule of thumb, skirting adds about 5–8% to a floor tile order.
How much waste should you add?
The calculator starts at 0% waste so you see the exact figure — but in practice always order extra. Tiles get cut at edges and corners, a few crack during handling, and you'll want spares from the same batch for future repairs. Use this guide:
| Waste | When to use it |
|---|---|
| 10% | Straight grid, simple rectangular room |
| 15% | Diagonal layout, or a small room where cuts dominate |
| 20% | Herringbone, patterns, or rooms with many obstacles |
| +5% | Extra for natural stone (marble, granite) — more breakage & shade variation |
Common measuring mistakes to avoid
- Forgetting fixed features. Don't count area taken by built-in wardrobes, a kitchen island footprint, or structural pillars — you won't tile there.
- Ignoring the grout gap. Skipping the joint spacing throws the count off on large jobs. Use the grout field above.
- Buying loose tiles. Loose tiles often come from a different batch with a slightly different shade. Buy full boxes from one batch.
- Not checking the batch number. Confirm every box shares the same batch/shade code before you leave the shop.
- Under-ordering on patterns. Diagonal and herringbone layouts waste far more at the edges — raise the waste percentage.
Floor tiles vs wall tiles
They aren't interchangeable. Floor tiles are thicker, harder and rated for foot traffic, often with an anti-skid finish for bathrooms. Wall tiles are lighter and thinner because they only bear their own weight. You can sometimes use floor tiles on a wall, but rarely wall tiles on a floor. Bathrooms usually pair an anti-skid floor tile with a glossy wall tile.
Tile calculator FAQ
How many boxes of tiles do I need?
Work out the area to tile, divide by the area one tile covers (including the grout gap) to get the tile count, add your waste percentage, then divide by the pieces per box and round up. This calculator does all of that and shows the box count at the top.
How do I calculate tiles for a wall?
Enter the length of wall you want to tile and pick a height — the calculator multiplies them for the area, then converts it into boxes using your tile size and pieces per box. For a whole room, add up each wall's length. For a bathroom it also subtracts the doorways.
How many pieces are in one box of tiles?
It varies by size and is printed on every box. As a rough guide: 600×600 mm ≈ 4 per box, 300×450 mm ≈ 8, 300×600 mm ≈ 6, and 800×800 mm ≈ 3. Always enter the exact figure from your box.
Does the calculator include skirting?
Yes — tick "Add skirting" on a floor job, set the skirting height and number of doors, and it adds the skirting tiles to your floor total. Skirting typically adds about 5–8% to a floor order.
Should I use feet or millimetres for tile size?
Whatever matches your box. Indian tiles are usually labelled in mm (like 600×600), but you can switch the tile-size unit to feet for common shop sizes like 2×2, 2×4 or 1×1.5, or to inches.
Why does the calculator start at 0% waste?
So you can see the exact quantity first. You should still add 10–15% (20% for diagonal or patterned layouts) before ordering, to cover cuts, breakage and future repairs.