How Many 12x12 Tiles for 200 Square Feet?
Tiles needed
216 tiles
200 square feet, 12 by 12 tile, an eighth inch joint, 15 tiles a box, 10 percent waste.
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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.
- Area to tile200 sq ft
- Tile width12 in
- Tile length12 in
- Tile thickness0.3125 in
- Grout joint0.125 in
- Tiles per box15 each
- Waste allowance10 %
Tiles needed216 tiles
| Area with 10% waste | 220 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Coverage of one tile | 1.021 sq fttile plus one joint |
| Tiles per square foot | 0.98 |
| Boxes at 15 per box | 15 |
| Thinset, 50 lb bags | 4about 60 sq ft per bag at this tile size |
| Grout | 11.2 lbsold in 10 and 25 lb boxes |
| Backer board, 3 by 5 sheets | 14 |
The material list this produces
| Tile, boxes | 15 |
|---|---|
| Thinset mortar, 50 lb bags | 4 |
| Grout, lb | 12 |
| Tile spacers, each | 432 |
| Cement backer board, 3 x 5 sheets | 14 |
| Backer board screws, each | 560 |
Waste allowance compared
Waste is the only input here you choose rather than measure, and it is the one that decides whether the job finishes on a Saturday or on the following Saturday.
| Waste allowance | Tiles needed | Boxes at 15 per box |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | 206 tiles | 14 |
| 10% | 216 tiles | 15 |
| 15% | 226 tiles | 16 |
| 20% | 236 tiles | 16 |
What else matters here
Two hundred square feet is a large kitchen or a small open plan floor. At 12 by 12 with an eighth inch joint it takes 216 tiles, which is 15 boxes and about a pallet quarter.
At this size the layout decision matters more than the count. Snap your lines from the center of the room rather than off a wall, because a floor this wide will show a tapered cut against the longest wall, and nobody can see a taper that has been split between two opposite walls.
Eleven pounds of grout is one bag with some left over, but buy two if the floor is going in over more than one day, because grout mixed on different days from different bags can dry a shade apart.
What this calculator assumes
- The tile count is worked out from the space one tile actually occupies, which is the tile plus one grout joint on two sides, not the tile on its own. On a 12 by 24 with an eighth inch joint that difference is about one percent, and on a mosaic it is far more.
- 10 percent waste suits a straight lay in a square room. A diagonal or herringbone lay wastes 15, and a room full of jogs, niches and closets can reach 20.
- Grout is figured geometrically: the joint volume is the space around each tile times the tile thickness, converted at 105 pounds per cubic foot, which is where sanded grout lands once mixed. Manufacturer coverage charts vary, so treat this as the order quantity and not the gospel.
- Thinset coverage follows the trowel, and the trowel follows the tile: about 85 sq ft from a 50 lb bag with a quarter inch notch under small tile, 60 under 12 inch, and 40 under large format where the notch grows and the tile gets back buttered.
Questions people ask
How many 12x12 tiles do I need for 200 square feet?
196 for the bare floor at an eighth inch joint, 216 with 10 percent waste, which is 15 boxes at 15 a box.
How much waste should I add?
Ten percent for a straight lay in a square room, fifteen for a diagonal or a cut up bathroom, twenty for herringbone. Under ten leaves nothing for a bad box or a broken tile, and both happen.
Should I buy extra tile?
Buy the whole job plus the waste in one order. Tile is fired in batches and the shade moves between batches, so a replacement box bought next spring will read as a patch from across the room. Keep the offcuts too, because a cracked tile three years from now is a lot easier to match from your own attic than from a supplier.
The tile calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.