How to Measure for Carpet
Carpet is a common flooring choice for many homeowners. When people decide to install carpet over hardwood floors or replace old carpet, one of the first steps is determining how much carpet to buy. Take care to measure the carpeted area carefully to ensure that you have enough to finish the room, but not so much extra that you have to pay for a lot more carpet than you will actually use Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Draw a room diagram with a bird's-eye view as if looking down on the room from above. You do not have to draw it to scale, but you need to include all the walls, doorways and other areas that are in the area. If you have multiple rooms to carpet, draw a diagram for each, or a floor plan for each floor.
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Use the measuring tape and measure the length of all the areas on your diagram. Write these areas down on your diagram, making sure to clearly indicate which measurement applies to the appropriate area. Round up length to the nearest half foot. For example, if a wall is 10 feet 8 inches long, round up to 11 feet.
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List each room or area by square footage. Take the lengths of the walls and multiply them by one another to get the square footage. For example, if a room is 10 feet by 8 feet, that room needs 80 square feet of carpet. Add up the total square footage for each room to figure your basic requirements.
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Add 10 percent and divide by nine. You'll need another 10 percent or so of carpet for joints and seems. Multiply your basic carpet area by 1.1 to get the total area needed. Divide this number by nine to get the number of square yards required.
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References
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