Tile calculator: work out tiles needed for any floor or wall project, with waste allowance and box counts. Editable waste rate, free, runs in your browser.
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Every figure above is calculated locally in your browser from the assumptions shown. No inputs are sent anywhere. See the methodology section below for the formulas used.
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Tile calculator: work out tiles needed for any floor or wall project, with waste allowance and box counts. Editable waste rate, free, runs in your browser.
A 12 x 10 bathroom needs 132 tiles, 14 boxes.
Transparent methodology
How this calculator works
Formula
Tiles = ceiling(area / tile area) x (1 + waste); boxes = ceiling(tiles / tiles per box).
Worked example
A 12 x 10 ft floor with 12 x 12 inch tiles and 10% waste: 132 tiles, or 11 boxes of 12.
A tile calculator estimates the number of tiles you need by taking your room dimensions, tile size, and grout spacing, then computing the total area and tile count , all processed locally in your browser with no data sent to any server.
Do I need to create an account to use the tile calculator?
No. The tile calculator is completely free, requires no signup, and runs entirely in your browser. Your measurements and results stay on your device and are never stored or shared.
Does the tile calculator account for waste and cuts?
Yes. The tile calculator includes an optional waste percentage (typically 10% for standard layouts, 15% for diagonal or complex patterns) so you can order enough tiles to cover cuts, breakage, and future repairs.
BoringToolsKit. “Tile Calculator.” boringtoolskit.com/tile-calculator/. Free to reference in articles, syllabi, and answer posts with a link.
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A worked example: 12 ft by 10 ft bathroom floor
A 12 ft by 10 ft floor gives a surface area of 12 x 10 = 120 square feet. A standard 12 x 12 inch tile covers 12 x 12 = 144 square inches, and 144 / 144 = 1 square foot per tile, so one tile covers exactly one square foot of floor.
Set the waste factor to 10 percent. The calculator multiplies 120 x 1.10 = 132 tiles, then applies the ceiling: 132 tiles. If tiles come 10 per box, the box count is 132 / 10 = 13.2, rounded up to 14 boxes. That last ceiling matters: buying 13 boxes leaves you 2 tiles short on the last row. Note the ceiling is applied to the tile count before boxing, so a small project like a 45 sq ft closet with 6 x 6 tiles (0.25 sq ft each) needs 199 tiles, not 198, even though 45 x 1.10 / 0.25 = 198 exactly, because the ceiling function pushes 198.0 upward regardless.
Where the flat area model breaks down
The formula assumes a plain rectangle, so L-shaped rooms need to be split: a 12 x 10 kitchen plus a 4 x 6 pantry is 120 + 24 = 144 sq ft, not 16 x 10 = 160, which would overbuy by about 22 tiles at 1 sq ft each. It also ignores cuts: each tile touching a wall or cabinet gets trimmed, and those offcuts are only reusable where a smaller piece fits. A 20 x 20 tile in a 9 ft wide room leaves a 4 inch strip along one wall per row, and 30 to 40 percent of cut pieces are too small to reuse.
The default 10 percent waste fits a straight lay on a rectangular room. Diagonal or herringbone layouts push real-world waste to 15 to 20 percent because every edge tile is cut at an angle. Patterned or veined tile adds more, since installers pull extra pieces to align the grain. Grout lines work in your favor slightly (a 1/4 inch joint on 12 inch tiles trims effective coverage by about 2 percent), but the calculator does not model it, so treat its output as a floor, then order one spare box beyond the result for future repairs, since matching a discontinued dye lot years later is often impossible.
