ContractorHandbook

How Many Square Feet Is a 16x20 Room?

Total area

320 sq ft

Sixteen feet by twenty feet.

length x widthextralength, ftwidtharea x how many, plus anything odd shaped, in feet, yards and meters
Every material calculator on the site starts here, which is why this one also gives square yards and square meters. Odd shapes get broken into rectangles and added on, because a rectangle is the only shape a tape measure is honest about.

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.

  • Length16 ft
  • Width20 ft
  • How many rooms or areas this size1
  • Extra area to add0 sq ft

Total area320 sq ft

One area320 sq ft
Times 1, plus extra320 sq ft
Square yards35.56
Square meters29.73
Perimeter of one area72 ft

What else matters here

Three hundred and twenty square feet is a large living room, a one bay shop, a single car garage with room to work, or a substantial deck. It is also almost exactly the size of a standard American one car garage plus a little.

At this size a floor is no longer one piece of anything. Sheet goods, carpet and underlayment all come in at 12 feet or less, so plan the seams and the direction before ordering rather than after. Running planks along the 20 foot dimension makes the room read longer; running them across makes it read wider.

What this calculator assumes

  • Length times width, times how many areas are that size. For an L shaped room, split it into two rectangles and run this twice.
  • Square yards are square feet divided by nine, which is how carpet is still quoted in much of the country.

Questions people ask

How many square feet is a 16x20 room?

320 square feet, which is 35.56 square yards and 29.73 square meters.

How big is a 16x20 deck?

320 square feet, which is a large deck by most standards and enough for a dining set and a seating area at the same time. It needs a permit almost everywhere.

What is the perimeter of a 16x20 room?

72 feet, which is the starting point for baseboard, crown and paint.

Different numbers?

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

Other common sizes