ContractorHandbook

How Much Flooring for 250 Square Feet?

Boxes to order

13 boxes

250 square feet of floor, ten percent waste, boxes of 22.5 square feet.

It does not stop at a number.

When the figures look right, the flooring material list downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.

waste10%room area, sq ftone box covers a fixed number of square feetarea with waste / coverage per box = boxes, rounded up
Flooring is sold by the box and installed by the plank, so the only number that matters on the label is the square feet per box. The waste allowance covers the cut at each wall and the offcut that starts the next row.

How that number is worked out

These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.

  • Floor area250 sq ft
  • Coverage per box or carton22.5 sq ft
  • Waste allowance10 %

Boxes to order13 boxes

Floor area250 sq ft
With 10% waste275 sq ft
Boxes at 22.5 sq ft13
Coverage bought292.5 sq ft
Left over42.5 sq ftkeep it for repairs

The material list this produces

Flooring, boxes13
Underlayment, sq ft250
Transition strips, each2

Waste allowance compared

Waste is set by how you lay it, not by how careful you are. Straight lay to herringbone, same room.

Waste allowanceBoxes to orderWith 10% wasteLeft over
5%12 boxes262.5 sq ft20 sq ft
10%13 boxes275 sq ft42.5 sq ft
15%13 boxes287.5 sq ft42.5 sq ft
20%14 boxes300 sq ft65 sq ft

What else matters here

Two hundred and fifty square feet plus ten percent is 275, thirteen cartons, 292.5 bought and 42.5 spare.

Most of the time on a floor this size goes into the edges, and the doorways are the worst of them. Scribing a plank around a door casing looks like the careful thing to do and it never quite closes up, because a casing is molded rather than square.

Undercut the casing instead. Lay a scrap of flooring and its underlayment on the subfloor, rest a flush cut saw or a jamb saw flat on it, and cut the casing and the jamb off at that height. The plank then slides underneath, the gap is invisible, and the expansion gap is still there where it needs to be. Do the same at a hearth or a stone threshold with an oscillating tool and a masonry blade.

What this calculator assumes

  • 10 percent waste covers a straight lay in a simple rectangle. Go to 15 for a diagonal or herringbone lay, and 20 if the room is cut up with closets and angles.
  • Buy the whole job in one delivery. Dye lot and batch shade move between production runs, and a single replacement box six months later will not match.

Questions people ask

How many boxes of flooring for 250 square feet?

About 13 boxes at 22.5 square feet each, covering 250 square feet with ten percent waste.

Should I cut around door casings or under them?

Under them. Undercut the casing and jamb with a flush cut or jamb saw so the flooring slides beneath, which is both faster and far neater than scribing.

How high do I undercut a door jamb?

Rest the saw on a scrap of the flooring sitting on its underlayment. That sets the height exactly and leaves the plank a hair of clearance.

Different numbers?

The flooring calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.

Other common sizes