How to Measure for Buying Carpeting

If you’re ready to buy new carpeting, you probably want some idea of how much carpet you need to order. Carpet supply stores have professionals who will do the measuring and calculations for you, but you can do some measuring yourself to get a good approximation of how much you need. You can also use your calculations to estimate how much the carpeting will cost.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Measuring tape or ruler

1. Make sure you know how to read the ruler or measuring tape you plan to use. Some are marked off in feet and inches and some just inches. You want your measurements recorded in feet, so if your tape is marked only in inches, you’ll have to divide your measurement by 12 to convert it to feet. For example, suppose you measure the length of the room and it is 120 inches. Divide 120 by 12 to get 10 feet.

2. Find the area of the room to be carpeted. To do this, measure the length of the room in feet and record it on a piece of paper. Then measure the width of the room in feet and record it. Multiply the measurements for the length and width together to get the area. For example, if the room measures 14 feet long and 12 feet wide, the area of the room is 168 square feet. This is how much carpeting you need for this room.

3. Round up if the measurements in Step 1 don’t come out even. For example, if the length of the room actually measures 13 feet and 5 inches, use 14 feet.

4. If more than one room is to be carpeted, repeat Steps 2 and 3 for each room. Once you have the number of square feet needed for each room, add them all together. The result is the total number of square feet of carpeting you need.

Tips & Warnings

• In some locations, carpet is sold by the square yard instead of by the square foot. To get the number of square yards of carpeting, divide the number of square feet by 9. Using our example from Step 2, divide 168 by 9 to get 18.6. Again, round up to get 19. This is the number of square yards of carpeting you need for this room.
• Don’t rely solely on your own measurements to order your carpeting. These measurements should only be used to get a rough estimate of the amount of carpeting you need. Extra allowances have to be made according to the layout of the rooms. Normally, the store you purchase the carpet from will have someone measure, make note of the room layouts and calculate the amount of carpeting to order.