How to Measure Tile Per Square Foot
Measuring tile per square foot is a crucial part of any tiling project. Figuring out the number of tiles that you will need per square foot will help you to estimate your total amount of materials, as well as the cost involved. Tiling a floor, countertop, wall or backsplash is a way to dramatically change the overall look of a room. Measuring correctly is the one of the first steps in this process. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Draw a simple sketch of the area that you plan to tile.
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Measure the dimensions of this space with a tape measure and write them on your sketch. Measure in inches.
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Determine the square feet involved in your project. If the space is square or rectangular, you can simply multiply the length times the width. If the area is irregularly shaped, divide the sketch into squares, rectangles, triangles and circles. For circular shapes, measure the diameter of the circle, which is the distance across the middle of the shape. Divide this measurement by two and square it (multiply it times itself). Then multiply your answer times pi, which is 3.14. For a triangular shape, multiply the length of the base times the height and divide by 2. If you used multiple shapes in your sketch, add the square feet for each shape to find the total area of the project.
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Divide your area by 144, since there are 144 inches in a square foot. For example, if the total area was 1,440 inches, divide this number by 144 to get 10 square feet.
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Measure the length and width of one of the tiles that you plan to use, multiply the figures by one another and divide by 144. For example, if your tiles are 6 inches by 6 inches, multiply 6 times 6 to get 36. Then divide by 144 to get 0.25, which is the square footage of a single tile.
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Divide the total square feet of your project by the square footage of a tile. In this example, you would divide 10 by 0.25 to get 40. This means that you would need 40 tiles.
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Add approximately 10 percent to your number of required tiles to account for waste. In this example, you would multiply 40 times 0.10 to get 4. Add 4 to 40, which means that you can estimate on using 44 tiles for the project.
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References
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