Build calculator
How many cartons of flooring a room needs
Floor area plus a waste allowance, divided by the coverage on the box and rounded up to whole cartons.
Data last checked . Every source is listed below.
Cartons of flooring
500 sq ft plus 10% for cuts is 550 sq ft; cartons hold 23.21 sq ft each.
- Area with waste
- 550 sq ft
- Flooring you would own
- 557.0 sq ft24 cartons
- Left over
- 57.0 sq ftfor repairs later
For information only: not advice, a design or a code ruling. We take care, but our sources can lag and so can we, so a figure may be out of date. Package sizes and prices come from the maker and the store, and codes from the local building authority.
What moves the number
The few things that change the answer the most, in plain terms.
- Layout
- A straight lay in one rectangular room wastes the least. Hallways, odd corners and diagonal lays cut more planks.
- Carton size
- Cartons are sold by area, and the area varies by product, so the same room can be 20 or 25 cartons depending on the line.
- Whole cartons
- You cannot buy part of a carton, so the count rounds up and the spare flooring depends on where the round-up lands.
- Spare planks
- Flooring lines are sometimes discontinued or change dye lots, so some people keep the leftover for later repairs.
The working
Step by step, with the numbers from the starting example, so you can check it on paper.
- Area with 10% waste: 500 x 1.1 = 550 sq ft.
- Cartons: 550 / 23.21 = 23.70, rounded up to 24.
- That is 557.0 sq ft of flooring, 57.0 sq ft more than the room.
Try a different case
Each opens the calculator with the numbers filled in.
What we assumed
Where a number is an example, we say so.
- Our estimateWaste of 5%, 10% or 15% is a rounded range for simple, multi-room and diagonal layouts. Installers and manufacturers quote similar figures, but the box or the manufacturer's installation guide governs.
- Checked sourceThe default carton of 23.21 sq ft is the most common size among the vinyl plank listings read at Lowe's (ten 7 in by 48 in planks); other lines ran from 15.76 to 23.31 sq ft.
- Our estimateUnderlayment, transition strips and adhesive are not counted.
Sources
- Checked sourceLowe's product pages read on lowes.com, Central Columbus OH store, 5 Nov 2026: luxury vinyl plank cartons of 15.76, 18.8 and 23.21 sq ft; an engineered hardwood carton of 23.31 sq ft. Data year 2026, checked 2026-11-05.