How to Measure the Square Footage of Carpet

Measuring for carpet is not difficult

Whether you are a do-it-yourself homeowner who needs to know how much carpet to order, or you are trying to prevent over-paying for carpet installation, it is important to know how to measure square footage. Performing this calculation yourself will help you approximate the square yards of carpet needed. This task is not as difficult as it may first appear.

Things You'll Need

• Graph paper
• Pencil
• Metal tape measure
• Calculator

Instructions

1. Sketch, on a piece of graph paper, the layout of the room or rooms where you are installing carpet. The drawings do not have to be perfect or exactly to scale, just a close representation of each room. The measurements will, however, have to be exact. If you are installing the carpet in rooms on more than one floor, use a separate piece of paper for each floor.

2. Measure each room and transfer the measurements to your reference drawings. Round up all measurements to the closest 1/2-foot mark. For example, if the measurement is 12 feet 3 inches, round this up to 12 feet 6 inches. Be consistent when transferring the measurements to your drawing; the first number should be the length and the second will represent the width.

3. Divide an irregularly shaped room into measurable portions. Measure the lengths and widths of each section and transfer these numbers to your drawing.

4. List all the measurements on a separate piece of paper, room by room. Use a calculator to multiply the length by the width of each room to get the square footage. Add up all the square footage results for a final total. For example, if a living room measures 15 by 10 feet, the square footage is 150 square feet; a 12 by 10-foot den 120 square feet; and a 14 by 12-foot bedroom is 168 square feet. The total square footage for all rooms is 438.

5. Add 10 percent to your final square footage to allow for waste, pattern matching or any seams. Most carpet comes in 12-foot widths, and if the width of a room is wider, you will need to seam together two pieces of carpet to complete the installation. In our example, 10 percent of 438 is 44 (rounded up from 43.8); 438 plus 44 is 482 square feet.

6. Divide this number by nine to get the square yards needed. One square yard is equivalent to 9 square feet. In our example, 482 divided by 9 is 53.55 square yards. This is the amount of carpet you need.

Tips & Warnings

• If your room measures more than 12 feet, you will have to seam the carpet.

• Rooms that measure less than 12 feet will result in some carpet waste.

References

• AbcCarpets: How to Buy New Carpet Wisely