Why does the trowel notch change the answer so much?

Because the notch decides how thick a bed of adhesive is left on the floor. On MAPEI's data sheet for Ultrabond ECO 373, LVT over a porous subfloor takes a 1/16 in (1.5 mm) square notch and covers 125 to 185 ft²/gal (3.1 to 4.5 m²/L), while over a non-porous subfloor the finer 1/16 x 1/32 x 1/32 in (1.5 x 1 x 1 mm) U-notch covers 185 to 245 ft²/gal (4.5 to 6.0 m²/L). Read across the sheet's two lines, the porous-subfloor square notch can take half as much adhesive again as the non-porous U-notch on the same floor area, though the subfloor differs as well as the notch: the sheet gives no subfloor with both. Use the notch the floor covering's maker and the adhesive's maker call for, and read the coverage for that notch.

Can I spread it thinner, or roll it, to make it go further?

Not if the floor is to stay down. F. Ball's data sheet for STYCCOBOND F44 says in capitals not to use the roller to extend the stated coverage, because it reduces adhesion; there a roller is only for smoothing the trowelled adhesive so it does not shadow through vinyl. The notch is how the maker sets how much adhesive the backing gets, so a tub stretched further than its coverage trades the adhesive saved for the bond the maker's figures were written for.

Why does the page open on the low end of MAPEI's range?

Because the low figure is the one that does not leave the last room short. MAPEI gives 125 to 185 ft²/gal (3.1 to 4.5 m²/L) for LVT on a porous subfloor with one notch, calls its figures for estimating purposes only, and says actual coverage may vary with the substrate, the trowel and how the adhesive is set. Opening at the bottom of the range means a floor that takes more is still covered, and a floor that comes in nearer the top simply leaves more in the last pail.

The data sheet gives grams per square metre. How do I enter that?

Turn it into an area per litre first. A weight per area tells you how heavy a film to spread; the density on the same sheet tells you what a litre weighs. Divide the density by the spread, both in kilograms, and you have the square metres a litre covers. Where the sheet gives an area per tub or pail instead, divide that area by the container size.

Does it work for wood flooring adhesive?

The arithmetic does: area over coverage, rounded up to whole containers. Read the coverage for the wood adhesive's own notch off its own data sheet, and the size it is sold in; where the sheet gives a weight per area and sells by weight, convert as the previous answer says. A vinyl adhesive's coverage means nothing for a wood adhesive spread from a different notch, so never borrow one for the other.

What else does a glue-down floor need that this does not count?

Subfloor preparation, which is where most failures start. F. Ball asks for a structurally sound, smooth, dry subfloor below 75% relative humidity, primed where it is very absorbent, and smoothed with a levelling compound where it is uneven; MAPEI's data sheet stops installation where the moisture vapor emission rate is over 15 lb per 1,000 sq ft (6.80 kg per 92.9 m²) in 24 hours by the calcium chloride test. The primer, the smoothing compound and the moisture testing are separate jobs with their own quantities.

Materials & Quantities

Flooring Adhesive Calculator — Glue-Down Vinyl, LVT, Carpet or Wood

How many tubs or pails of adhesive a glued-down floor takes, from the area and the coverage the adhesive maker prints for your trowel notch.

Answers as you typeNo submit button
Every formula citedNamed published standards
Calculated in your browserNo account, nothing uploaded

SettingsSettings for this calculationUS

Market

Imperial · sales tax

Who is doing the work?

Waste is set to 0% by hand. Pick a tier above to replace it, or keep your own figure.

Floor Area to Glue

The area the adhesive is spread over: the whole floor for a full spread.

Length times width of each room, added together, leaving out only what the floor covering does not go under, such as a fitted kitchen's plinth line or a hearth. A covering glued at its perimeter or in strips needs the glued area only; work that out first and enter it here.

Tools needed: Tape measure

Coverage at Your Trowel Notch (from the data sheet)

The area one litre or one gallon covers with the notch you will use, as the adhesive's data sheet prints it.

Find the coverage table on the adhesive's data sheet and read the line for your floor covering, your trowel notch and your subfloor. F. Ball gives STYCCOBOND F44 as 4 m²/L (163 ft²/gal) with a 1.5 x 5 mm (1/16 x 3/16 in) V-notched trowel on its product page, and up to 4.5 m²/L (183 ft²/gal) on its data sheet. MAPEI gives Ultrabond ECO 373 as 125 to 185 ft²/gal (3.1 to 4.5 m²/L) for LVT on a porous subfloor with a 1/16 in (1.5 mm) square notch. Where the sheet gives a range, the low figure orders more adhesive. Where it gives an area per tub or pail instead, divide by the container size; where it gives a weight spread on each square metre, divide the adhesive's density, on the same sheet, by that weight.

Container Size

The size of tub, bucket or pail the adhesive is sold in: 15 L (3.96 gal) for F. Ball's largest, 4 gal (15.1 L) for MAPEI's.

STYCCOBOND F44 comes in 15, 5 and 2.5 litre buckets and a 1 litre pot (3.96, 1.32, 0.66 and 0.26 US gallons); MAPEI sells Ultrabond ECO 373 by the 4 gallon (15.1 L) and 1 gallon (3.79 L) pail and by the quart (0.95 L). For a mix of sizes, run the large one first and then the remainder in the small one.

Waste / Over-Order (%)

Extra for a thirsty subfloor and what stays on the trowel and in the tub. Opens at nothing.

Neither data sheet cited here publishes an allowance. Both say the coverage depends on the subfloor, F. Ball that it will depend on its condition and absorbency and MAPEI that its figures are for estimating only, and each opening already sits at the heavy end of its maker's figures. Add your own percentage from past jobs on a rough or very absorbent base.

Adhesive containers to buy

1 container

High confidence

The adhesive is the floor area, allowance included, divided by the coverage entered, and the containers are that divided by the container size, rounded up. The coverage belongs to one product, one notch and one kind of subfloor, so a change to any of them is a new figure from the same data sheet.

Adhesive to spread, allowance included: 1.76 gal
Floor one container covers: 500 ft²
Adhesive left in the last container: 2.24 gal

Then change the inputs to see how far the answer moves.

Show calculation logic

How this was calculated

Formula source(s)

F. Ball and Co., STYCCOBOND F44 vinyl flooring adhesive, product page: coverage "4m² per litre using a 1.5mm x 5mm trowel" — the metric opening
F. Ball and Co., STYCCOBOND F44 technical data sheet (February 2025): coverage rate up to 4.5 m² per litre with a STYCCOBOND 1.5 mm x 5 mm V-notched trowel, 67.5 m² from a 15 litre bucket; "Coverage rates will depend on the condition and absorbency of the subfloor"; "DO NOT use the roller to extend the stated coverage as this will reduce adhesion"; subfloors dry (below 75% RH); installation to BS 8203
MAPEI Corporation, Ultrabond ECO 373 technical data sheet (edition date November 6, 2023): approximate coverage for LVT/LVP and solid vinyl on porous substrates with a 1/16 x 1/16 x 1/16 in (1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 mm) square notch, 125 to 185 sq ft per US gallon (500 to 740 sq ft per 4 gallons); on non-porous substrates with a 1/16 x 1/32 x 1/32 in (1.5 x 1 x 1 mm) U-notch, 185 to 245 sq ft per gallon; by 1/4 in nap roller for carpet tile, 250 to 350; pails of 1 quart, 1 gallon and 4 gallons; "Coverage shown is for estimating purposes only"; not to be installed where the moisture vapor emission rate exceeds 15 lb per 1,000 sq ft per 24 hours (ASTM F1869)

Inputs used

Floor Area to Glue: 220 sq ft
Coverage at Your Trowel Notch (from the data sheet): 125 ft²/gal
Container Size: 4 gal
Waste / Over-Order (%): 0

Intermediate steps

Adhesive to spread, allowance included: 1.76 gal
Floor one container covers: 500 ft²
Adhesive left in the last container: 2.24 gal

Final result1 container

Confidence note: The adhesive is the floor area, allowance included, divided by the coverage entered, and the containers are that divided by the container size, rounded up. The coverage belongs to one product, one notch and one kind of subfloor, so a change to any of them is a new figure from the same data sheet.

What this calculation does not cover

The coverage is the adhesive maker's figure for one product, one trowel notch, one floor covering backing and one kind of subfloor. Change any of the four and the figure changes; the page cannot tell, so it uses the figure entered.
A worn trowel or one with the wrong notch spreads a different bed, and a bed spread thinner than the maker's notch to stretch the adhesive is a bonding fault, not a saving.
Subfloor preparation is not counted: primer, smoothing compound, a moisture-suppressing membrane and the tests that decide which of them a floor needs are separate items, as is a seam sealer or a perimeter adhesive a floor covering's maker asks for.
The page assumes a full spread over the area entered. For a covering glued only at its edges, in strips or with a release adhesive, enter only the glued area and that system's coverage.

Estimated cost — your price

Price per container ($)

This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.

Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.

Sources checked 2026-10-05 · v1.0.0

Regulatory standards & verification citations3

Which documents these citations point at

Standards referenced: ASTM F1869 (ASTM International, United States).

Cite this page

Your workspace

Most jobs need more than one number. Add the calculators you need next and they open right here, underneath this one — your figures stay on screen and nothing is lost to a page change.

Now that you have the number

These guides cover the work this quantity is for.

Preparing a Subfloor for LVT and Vinyl

How to calculate flooring adhesive — glue-down vinyl, LVT, carpet or wood in 5 steps

Floor Area to GlueThe area the adhesive is spread over: the whole floor for a full spread.
Coverage at Your Trowel Notch (from the data sheet)The area one litre or one gallon covers with the notch you will use, as the adhesive's data sheet prints it.
Container SizeThe size of tub, bucket or pail the adhesive is sold in: 15 L (3.96 gal) for F. Ball's largest, 4 gal (15.1 L) for MAPEI's.
Waste / Over-Order (%)Extra for a thirsty subfloor and what stays on the trowel and in the tub. Opens at nothing.
Adhesive containers to buyThe tool computes the adhesive containers to buy from those figures and shows the formula, its sources, and a confidence rating alongside it.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the trowel notch change the answer so much?: Because the notch decides how thick a bed of adhesive is left on the floor. On MAPEI's data sheet for Ultrabond ECO 373, LVT over a porous subfloor takes a 1/16 in (1.5 mm) square notch and covers 125 to 185 ft²/gal (3.1 to 4.5 m²/L), while over a non-porous subfloor the finer 1/16 x 1/32 x 1/32 in (1.5 x 1 x 1 mm) U-notch covers 185 to 245 ft²/gal (4.5 to 6.0 m²/L). Read across the sheet's two lines, the porous-subfloor square notch can take half as much adhesive again as the non-porous U-notch on the same floor area, though the subfloor differs as well as the notch: the sheet gives no subfloor with both. Use the notch the floor covering's maker and the adhesive's maker call for, and read the coverage for that notch.
Can I spread it thinner, or roll it, to make it go further?: Not if the floor is to stay down. F. Ball's data sheet for STYCCOBOND F44 says in capitals not to use the roller to extend the stated coverage, because it reduces adhesion; there a roller is only for smoothing the trowelled adhesive so it does not shadow through vinyl. The notch is how the maker sets how much adhesive the backing gets, so a tub stretched further than its coverage trades the adhesive saved for the bond the maker's figures were written for.
Why does the page open on the low end of MAPEI's range?: Because the low figure is the one that does not leave the last room short. MAPEI gives 125 to 185 ft²/gal (3.1 to 4.5 m²/L) for LVT on a porous subfloor with one notch, calls its figures for estimating purposes only, and says actual coverage may vary with the substrate, the trowel and how the adhesive is set. Opening at the bottom of the range means a floor that takes more is still covered, and a floor that comes in nearer the top simply leaves more in the last pail.
The data sheet gives grams per square metre. How do I enter that?: Turn it into an area per litre first. A weight per area tells you how heavy a film to spread; the density on the same sheet tells you what a litre weighs. Divide the density by the spread, both in kilograms, and you have the square metres a litre covers. Where the sheet gives an area per tub or pail instead, divide that area by the container size.
Does it work for wood flooring adhesive?: The arithmetic does: area over coverage, rounded up to whole containers. Read the coverage for the wood adhesive's own notch off its own data sheet, and the size it is sold in; where the sheet gives a weight per area and sells by weight, convert as the previous answer says. A vinyl adhesive's coverage means nothing for a wood adhesive spread from a different notch, so never borrow one for the other.
What else does a glue-down floor need that this does not count?: Subfloor preparation, which is where most failures start. F. Ball asks for a structurally sound, smooth, dry subfloor below 75% relative humidity, primed where it is very absorbent, and smoothed with a levelling compound where it is uneven; MAPEI's data sheet stops installation where the moisture vapor emission rate is over 15 lb per 1,000 sq ft (6.80 kg per 92.9 m²) in 24 hours by the calcium chloride test. The primer, the smoothing compound and the moisture testing are separate jobs with their own quantities.

Preliminary estimate, not certified engineering. This tool produces an indicative quantity calculation for planning purposes only — it is not a certified structural analysis, a guaranteed material takeoff, or a substitute for building department approval. Always verify measurements on-site and have a licensed contractor or structural engineer review any load-bearing, code-sensitive, or safety-critical work before purchasing materials or starting construction. Spotted an arithmetic or standards error? Report it to contact@craftquantities.com with your inputs — a confirmed fix gets a permanent check of its own, so the same mistake cannot come back.