How Much Flooring for a 16×20 Room?
A 16 × 20 ft room is 320 ft², which needs 18 cartons of flooring with 10% allowed for cuts and waste. Order 18 cartons — check the carton size on your product and divide the square footage to buy by it.
Other room sizes
Order 18 cartons — check the carton size on your product and divide the square footage to buy by it.
- Area
- 320 ft²
- Waste / cuts 10%
- + 32 ft²
- Coverage to buy
- 352 ft²
- Metric
- 29.7 m²
- Cartons (≈ 20 ft²)
- 18
- Square feet to buy
- 352
- Underlayment, 100 ft² roll
- 4 rolls
- Materials + delivery$2–$6 / ft² · Sep 2026
- $640 – $1,920
- Installed (with labor)typ. $2,240
- $1,280 – $3,840
- Laminate flooring, carton18 cartons
- Vinyl plank flooring, carton18 cartons
- Underlayment, 100 ft² roll4 rolls
- Flooring installation kit
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What will this flooring job cost?
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Different size or depth?
Open the full flooring calculator to change every input, pick a material and see truckloads.
How to calculate flooring by hand
Square feet to buy = Length × Width × (1 + waste) · Cartons = ft² ÷ carton coverage
Worked example
- Area: 12 ft × 14 ft = 168 ft².
- Waste 10%: 168 × 1.10 = 185 ft² to buy.
- Cartons at 20 ft²: 185 ÷ 20 = 9.2 → 10 cartons (check your product’s carton size).
- Underlayment: 2 rolls of 100 ft² if the flooring does not have it attached.
- Laminate carton
- 18–24 ft²
- LVP carton
- 20–24 ft²
- Hardwood bundle
- ≈ 20 ft²
- Waste: straight · diagonal · herringbone
- 10% · 15% · 20%
Questions crews ask
How much flooring do I need?
Room length × width in feet, plus 10% for cuts: a 12 × 14 room is 168 ft², buy 185. Divide by the carton size on the box (usually 18–24 ft²) and round up. For L-shaped rooms, split into rectangles and add.
How much extra flooring should I order?
10% for a straight layout in a rectangular room, 15% for diagonal, rooms with many jogs, or wide planks that cannot be end-matched as easily, and 20% for herringbone. Keep a carton for future repairs.
How many boxes of laminate for a 12x12 room?
144 ft² plus 10% is 159 ft². At 20 ft² per carton that is 8 boxes; at 24 ft² it is 7. Always round up, and check the carton coverage on the specific product.