Solve backwards
How big a room will my carpet tiles cover?
- 100 tilesThe example worked below
- Modular Carpet Tile Layout CalculatorEvery figure is its own
You have
How much carpet tiles?
Worked by the Modular Carpet Tile Layout Calculator at the settings below.
The settings it uses
- Carpet Tile Size (square)
- 24 in
- Waste Allowance (%)
- 7
What it will do
374 sq ft of floor
34.7 m²
One room. Enough for a room about 19.3 × 19.3 ft.
Or several. Less than one room of the size the Modular Carpet Tile Layout Calculator opens on (a room about 20.7 × 20.7 ft).
Check it forwards
- Floor Area
- 374 sq ft
- It asks for
- 100 tiles
- You have
- 100 tiles
The Modular Carpet Tile Layout Calculator asks for 100 tiles at that size, and 101 tiles one step larger.
If you had more, or less
Around your amount
Each worked by the Modular Carpet Tile Layout Calculator at the same settings.
Half
50 tiles
187 sq ft
a room about 13.7 × 13.7 ft
Yours
100 tiles
374 sq ft
a room about 19.3 × 19.3 ft
Half as much again
150 tiles
561 sq ft
a room about 23.7 × 23.7 ft
Double
200 tiles
748 sq ft
a room about 27.3 × 27.3 ft
Common amounts
What each amount of carpet tiles covers
The sizes it is usually sold in, each worked by the Modular Carpet Tile Layout Calculator at the settings above.
| You have | It covers | As one room | Average rooms |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 tiles | 150 sq ft(13.9 m²) | a room about 12.2 × 12.2 ft | under 1 |
| 100 tiles | 374 sq ft(34.7 m²) | a room about 19.3 × 19.3 ft | under 1 |
| 200 tiles | 748 sq ft(69.5 m²) | a room about 27.3 × 27.3 ft | 1 |
| 400 tiles | 1,495 sq ft(139 m²) | a room about 39 × 39 ft | 3 |
Two tiles, one for each system
The common North American carpet tile is 24 by 24 inches, 4 square feet (0.37 m²); the common tile elsewhere is 50 by 50 cm, four to the square metre, about 2.7 square feet each. The page counts the 24 inch tile in imperial and the 50 cm tile in metric, so 100 tiles cover about 374 square feet after the cuts, or about 23.4 m². Other tiles and plank formats differ, so change the tile size in the calculator to your product and the room here follows.
Seven per cent for a simple room
Seven per cent is a typical starting allowance for edge cuts and mistakes in a simple rectangular room, and read backwards it comes off the tiles. Irregular layouts and patterned or quarter-turned installations cut more, so the same boxes cover less floor there than the square room shown.
Keep a box from the same lot
Carpet tile is made in production runs that differ slightly in shade, so one floor should come from one lot — and the point of a modular floor, lifting a ruined tile and dropping in a clean one, needs spares from that same lot. A tile bought two years later rarely matches, so keep a box or two back.
How the answer is worked
Nothing here is a second formula. The Modular Carpet Tile Layout Calculator runs forwards — a size in, a quantity out — and this page grows its own starting room in proportion until the quantity it asks for is what you have. Where it rounds up to whole containers, the answer is the largest size before the next one would be needed.
Where the calculator adds an allowance for cuts or breakage when you order, the same allowance comes off here, because it is the same calculator: a stack you already own finishes less than its face value. Where it adds none, neither does this page — the settings beside the answer say which.
Modular Carpet Tile Layout Calculator
runs it forwardsCalculate how many carpet tiles are needed for a floor, based on standard modular carpet tile size.
Work out what to buy insteadSolve backwards
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Solve backwards
Start from what is already in the yard
Paint, sheets, rolls, bags and pieces, each read the other way by the calculator that orders it.
The calculator's own figures
Nothing is estimated twice: the page runs the same calculator you would order with.
The largest size that fits
Where a calculator rounds up to whole containers, the answer stops before the next one.
Both unit systems
Gallons and litres, square feet and square metres, side by side.
Frequently asked questions
- How much floor does 100 tiles of carpet tiles cover?
- At the Modular Carpet Tile Layout Calculator's own settings, 374 sq ft (34.7 m²) — a room about 19.3 × 19.3 ft. Every figure follows the settings, which you can change in the calculator.
- How many carpet tiles are in a square metre?
- Four 50 by 50 cm tiles make one square metre, each about 2.7 square feet. The common North American tile, 24 by 24 inches, covers 4 square feet, so 100 square feet takes 25 of them, or about 37 of the 50 cm tile. Add about seven per cent for edge cuts in a simple room.
- How many carpet tiles do I need for a 12 by 12 room?
- A 12 by 12 foot room is 144 square feet, 13.4 m², which takes 36 tiles of 24 inches, or 39 with seven per cent for cuts; in 50 cm tiles it takes about 54, or 58 with the seven per cent. Order full boxes from one production lot and keep a few spares for replacing damaged tiles.
- Do carpet tiles need adhesive?
- Usually a tackifier or a releasable adhesive, chosen for the subfloor and its moisture state. A concrete slab should be tested for relative humidity first — commonly with in-slab probes to ASTM F2170 — because moisture coming up through it can break the bond and curl tile edges months later.