Tile Calculator
Calculate how many tiles you need for a floor or wall from the area, tile size and wastage allowance.
Formula last reviewed 4 August 2026 · How we verify our calculators
Tiles required
55 tiles
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Frequently asked questions
Divide the area to be tiled by the area of one tile, then add a wastage allowance. 200 sq ft with 4 sq ft tiles and 10% wastage needs 55 tiles.
Cutting at edges and corners, breakage, and pattern matching all waste material. A 10% allowance is typical; use more for diagonal layouts or many cuts.
Multiply its dimensions. A 2 × 2 ft tile is 4 sq ft; a 600 × 600 mm tile is about 3.87 sq ft. Enter the result as the tile area.
Yes. Keeping a few spare tiles from the same batch is wise, since exact colours and sizes can be hard to match later if some crack.
Fifty-five tiles for two hundred square feet
Covering 200 sq ft with tiles of 4 sq ft each, allowing 10% wastage, needs 55 tiles.
Tiles = (area ÷ tile area) × (1 + wastage) = (200 ÷ 4) × 1.10 = 50 × 1.10 = 55
A "4 sq ft" tile is typically the common 2 × 2 ft (600 × 600 mm) format. Smaller formats need proportionally more units for the same area.
Why wastage is not optional
Tiles break, and more importantly they must be cut — at walls, around corners, at door thresholds, around pipes and fittings. Cut offcuts are usually unusable elsewhere.
Realistic wastage allowances:
- Simple rectangular room, large tiles, straight layout — 5–8%
- Typical room with a few obstructions — 10%
- Diagonal layout — 15%, because every perimeter tile is cut at an angle
- Complex shapes, many corners, patterned layouts — 15–20%
- Herringbone or intricate patterns — 20% or more
There is a second reason to over-order beyond wastage: batch variation. Ceramic and vitrified tiles are fired in batches, and shade varies measurably between them. Buying a few extra boxes from the same batch at the outset means a future repair matches. Buying the same tile two years later almost certainly will not.
Layout decisions that change the count
Start point. Centring the layout puts equal cuts at both ends and looks deliberate; starting from one wall leaves a thin sliver at the other, which looks like an error even when it is not.
Grout width. Typically 2–3 mm for vitrified tiles and 3–5 mm for ceramic. Over a large floor, grout lines meaningfully reduce the number of tiles needed — a 600 mm tile with a 3 mm joint effectively occupies 603 mm.
Direction. Laying the long dimension along the room's length visually extends it, and generally produces fewer cuts in a rectangular space.
Choosing the tile
Ceramic — lower cost, higher water absorption, suited to walls and light-traffic floors.
Vitrified — fired at higher temperature with very low absorption, harder and suited to floors and wet areas. Full-body vitrified carries the colour through, so chips are less visible.
Anti-skid is not optional for bathrooms, kitchens and outdoor areas. Look at the R rating — R10 or above for wet interior floors, R11+ for outdoor and heavy-wet areas.
PEI rating indicates wear resistance: PEI 3 for residential floors, PEI 4–5 for commercial traffic.
Reading the result
Order in whole boxes, since tiles are sold that way and a box typically holds 4–6 large-format tiles. The calculated 55 tiles will round up to the next full box count.
Also budget for adhesive and grout. Tile adhesive coverage is roughly 40–50 sq ft per 20 kg bag at a 4–5 mm bed, more for larger formats needing a thicker bed. Grout is a much smaller quantity but is easy to forget entirely.
Common mistakes
Ordering exactly the floor area. Cuts and breakage are certain.
Underestimating wastage on a diagonal layout. It is roughly double the straight-lay figure.
Buying different batches. Shade variation shows, particularly on large floors.
Forgetting the grout width. It reduces the count slightly and affects the layout.
Ignoring slip rating in wet areas. A polished floor tile in a bathroom is genuinely dangerous.