How to Measure a Ceramic Tile Layout

The first challenge of installing ceramic tile is how much to purchase.

One of the first steps to installing ceramic tile is determining the amount of tile needed to complete the job. Ceramic tile is manufactured in batches, so to ensure the best color match, purchase all the tile at the same time. Many homeowners have run out of tile before the job was complete and found that tiles manufactured in a different batch contained slight variations in color from the original tile purchased. An accurate initial estimate will help prevent this issue.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• Calculator

Instructions

1. Measure the length and width of the area(s) you will tile.

2. Multiply the length by the width of the area you will tile to gain the total square footage. If you are tiling multiple areas with the same ceramic tile, or you measured the area in chunks, add all of the square footage together to arrive at one total for all areas you will tile.

3. Multiply the width by the length of your selected tile. For example, if you will install ceramic tile that is 6 inches square, the space that will be covered by the tile is 36 inches.

4. Divide the amount calculated in step 3 by 144 to determine a ratio of the tile size per square foot of coverage. For example, 36 divided by 144 equals .25.

5. Divide the total square footage to be covered calculated in step 3 by the square foot ratio of the selected tile calculated in step 4. For example, if the area to be tiled is 120 square feet, 120 divided by .25 equals 480 tiles needed to complete the job.

6. Add 10 percent to the total calculated in step 5. This extra 10 percent allows for mistakes and odd cuts.

References

• Dummies: How Much Ceramic Tile Do You Need