SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
Waste is set to 20% by hand. Pick a tier above to replace it, or keep your own figure.
The number of treads being tiled.
Count the treads, not the risers — a straight flight between two floors usually has one more riser than tread, because the top riser meets the landing. Where the landing is being tiled as well, measure it separately as a floor.
The width of the flight, which every tread and nosing has to span.
Measure between the finished faces the tile has to meet — a string or a skirting either side narrows what the tile actually covers. This figure drives the nosing order more than anything else, because a nosing has to cross it in one piece.
Front to back on the tread, as the tile will cover it.
Take it from the face of the riser to the front of the nosing as it will be finished, not from the bare timber — a nosing that overhangs adds to what the tread tile has to reach, and a tiled riser pushes the tread back by its own thickness plus its adhesive.
The face height of one riser.
Enter zero if the risers are not being tiled — open-riser flights and flights with painted timber risers are common, and it removes nearly two fifths of the tile on a typical flight.
The length a nosing is sold in — the whole answer for the nosing order.
A step needs one continuous nosing, so what matters is how many steps a stock length yields, not how many metres it holds. At 900 mm wide, a 2.4 m length yields two nosings and 600 mm of offcut; a 1.2 m length yields one and 300 mm that fits nothing. Two thirds of the shorter stock is wasted and the order doubles.
Higher than a floor, because every piece on a stair is a cut piece.
On a floor most tiles go down whole and only the perimeter is cut. On a stair every tread and every riser is cut to width, and the treads are cut to the going as well, so twenty per cent is a floor rather than a ceiling. Raise it for a winder or a flight that is not square.
Tile needed for the flight
67.28 sq ft
26 cut pieces and 7 nosing length(s). The area is small; the piece count is the job.
- Tread tile
- 31.69 sq ft
- Riser tile
- 24.38 sq ft
- Allowance at 20%
- 11.21 sq ft
- Pieces to cut
- 26 pieces
- Nosings, 2 per stock length
- 7 lengths
- Nosing offcut, unusable
- 17 ft
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Tiled Stair Calculator: 67.28 sq ft — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Geometry: a flight's tread area is the step count times the width times the going, and its riser area the step count times the width times the rise
- Nosings are supplied in fixed stock lengths and each step needs one continuous piece, so the count is how many steps a stock length yields — not the total length divided by it
- Every tread and riser on a flight is a cut piece, which is why a stair carries a higher waste allowance than a floor of the same area
Inputs used
- Steps in the flight
- 13
- Stair width
- 3 ft
- Going, the tread depth
- 0.81 ft
- Rise, the riser height
- 0.63 ft
- Nosing stock length
- 8 ft
- Waste allowance
- 20
Intermediate steps
- Tread tile
- 31.69 sq ft
- Riser tile
- 24.38 sq ft
- Allowance at 20%
- 11.21 sq ft
- Pieces to cut
- 26 pieces
- Nosings, 2 per stock length
- 7 lengths
- Nosing offcut, unusable
- 17 ft
Confidence note: 26 cut pieces and 7 nosing length(s). The area is small; the piece count is the job.
What this calculation does not cover
- The piece count, not the area, is what a stair costs in time. This flight is a small area and several dozen cut pieces, every one of which has to line up with the one above it.
- Nosings are counted as whole stock lengths because a step needs a continuous piece. Where a stock length does not divide the stair width, the offcut is reported — it is usually too short for another step and is not deducted from the order.
- Nothing here sizes the stair or checks it. Rise, going and their consistency are a code matter, and tiling a flight adds a tile-and-adhesive thickness to every tread and riser, which can push an already marginal rise out of tolerance. The rise and run calculator is the page for that.
- Winders, a curved flight and a bullnose bottom step are not in this arithmetic. Each of those steps is its own shape, cut individually, and none of them takes a straight nosing.
- Adhesive, grout, primer, edge trim at the strings and the anti-slip requirement a tiled stair usually carries are all separate orders.
Estimated cost — your price
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 2026-09-23 · v1.0.0
Regulatory standards & verification citations3
- Geometry: a flight's tread area is the step count times the width times the going, and its riser area the step count times the width times the rise
- Nosings are supplied in fixed stock lengths and each step needs one continuous piece, so the count is how many steps a stock length yields — not the total length divided by it
- Every tread and riser on a flight is a cut piece, which is why a stair carries a higher waste allowance than a floor of the same area
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.
Tools and safety for this job
To lay floor tile, tile a wall, cut ceramic and porcelain tile, grout and seal tiling and mix adhesive or mortar. Generic types, no brands, no prices.
Protection this work requires
- Cutting or grinding concrete, masonry, screed, tile or fibre-cement board releases respirable silica: cut wet or extract at the tool, and wear a P2/N95 respirator at minimum — a nuisance dust mask does not filter it.
- Wet cement and lime burn skin and eyes painlessly until the damage is done: waterproof gloves to EN 374, safety glasses whenever the mix can splash, and never kneel in wet mix in permeable trousers.
- Saws, grinders and breakers run above 85 dB, where hearing damage accumulates and does not recover: defenders or plugs for every cut, not just the long ones.
- Boards, blocks and bagged material cause most lasting back injuries on small sites: two people or a lifter for full sheets, and never a bag on one shoulder up a ladder.
Show the 15 tools this job needsHide tools
Essential
Chalk line
Grout float and sponge
Manual tile cutter
Mixing bucket or tub
Notched trowel
Paddle mixer
Spirit level
Tape measure
Recommended
Caulking gun
Rubber mallet
Tile nippers
Wet tile saw
Optional
Hole saw set
Laser level
Shovel and spade
Also needed as materials: caulk and sealant cartridges, chalk refill, diamond tile blades, grout sponges.
what each tiling tool is for, and the spec that decides which to buy where one does.