Things You'll Need:
- Tape Measure
- Pad of Paper
- Pencil
- Helper if possible
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Step 1
First, start of by deciding exactly where you plan to use the flooring. Example: Will you have flooring in all of your house including bedrooms and closets?
Although a simple procedure, it is a very important step in the process. -
Step 2
After you have an idea of where you want your new flooring, it is time to get a basic layout down. On your pad of paper write down all of the rooms that you plan on having the flooring installed. When doing this, count all hallways as separate rooms. Leave a few lines of space beneath each room so that other details can be added at a later time.
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Step 3
Once you have all of the rooms that are intended for the flooring labeled, right a note beneath each one describing closet space or other related areas. It should look sort of like this:
Kitchen:
Pantry
Master bedroom:
Walk in Closet
Hallway 1:
Linen Closet
And so on. Make sure that you do this for each and every room. This is a very important step because often times these areas are overlooked and result in incorrect flooring estimates. -
Step 4
Now you are ready for the actual measuring. Get out your handy dandy tape measure (one that is at least 25' Foot in length). If you have a laser measuring tool, that will work too, but a tape measure is really all that you will need.
Begin your measurements on one side of your house and work your way across to the other side of your house. For this example, we will start in the Master Bedroom.
If you have a walk-in closet, start there. Measure the distance from one side wall to its partner across the wall. Do this in the opposite direct as well and write down the two measurements. You do not need to be exact, but make sure round up to the nearest foot. For example if your the distance is 5 feet 3 inches mark your measurement at 6 feet. By doing this in every room that you measure, you will come up with extra wood for each and every room (which is always a good thing).
Once you have these two measurements written down, multiply them together for your square foot area. A 5 foot by 8 Foot closet will give you 40 square feet and so on.
If you do not have a walk in closet and just a regular size closet in the room that you are measuring, do not measure it separately. Instead, you will take this measurement when you measure the entire room.
To measure the entire room, start at one wall again and measure to the opposite wall and write the measurement down. If this room has a closet on an opposite wall, open the closet door and measure from the back wall of the closet to the opposite wall. This will give you plenty of wood for the entire closet when estimating. Once again, when you have these measurements down, write them down on your pad and multiply them together. If a room has an alcove, try to treat that area as a separate space/room and measure it that way. When you have each and every room measured, add up all of the corresponding measurements and you will have your approximate square footage for the materials that you will need. Remember to be generous with your measurements and that you will always want to have more wood than not enough!
Be sure to check back for the next steps in Installing Bamboo Flooring!
