How To Determine How Many Boxes Of Tile

To determine how many boxes of tile to order, you will need to know how many square feet of ceramic tile is needed to complete your project. Tile is purchased by the square foot, (and rounded up to the nearest full box) Square foot pricing makes for easy price comparison regardless of tile sizes.(Ex: 200 square feet of 18x18 size ceramic tiles is 200 square feet of 6x6 ceramic tiles and any other tile size for that matter). Measure the length by the width and round up to the next box of tile. The square footage needed for your tile job will change very little if  you choose a different size of tile.  Take the length of your room rounded UP to the next 1/2 of a foot (6inches),and multiply by the width of the room also rounded UP to the nearest 6 inches, (eg; if a room is 6 foot 2 inches by 12 foot 9 inches I would calculate 6 foot 6 inches or 6 1/2 feet by 13 feet  6.5x13=84.5 square ft) subtract for any areas not to be tiled by rounding down the measurements of the area to be subtracted .(eg; if you have a kitchen island that is 3 foot 8inches by 5 foot 2 inches I would multiply 3 foot 6 inches or 3.5ft x 5ft = 17.5 sqft and subtract it from the kitchen total tile needed)   

Remember round up for the measurements and round down to subtract an area, this is how you add in your waste factor and the tile is sold by the box so you will also round up to the next full box when ordering.(eg; if you need 5.25 boxes of tile you would order 6 boxes).

If you are going to lay your tile at a 45* degree angle than the waste factor can be greater so error to the greater amount. The smaller the job the larger the percentage % waste factor you will have because one box or even one half of a box of tile is a greater percentage % of the whole job being that it is a small  tile job and that's why I would never recommend an added percentage % waste factor like 10% or 5% as most companies do.

 The bigger the TILE the more waste you will have because for example if you need a 2 inch cut along one wall to finish the room each 20 by 20 tile can only give you 2 - 2 inch by 20 inch pieces that is one 2 inch cut off of each side of the 20x20 tile leaving the other 16 inches by 20 inches in the middle as waste to be thrown in the garbage because you need the factory edge of the tile to be on 3 sides of your pieces along the wall which is the only usable parts of the ceramic porcelain tile.

It is always good to have a half a box or more left over at the end of your job and it should be kept for possible future needs with the tile box it came in. (the box has the shade number and the caliber number of the ceramic tile marked on the box) this is needed if you have a need for more tile in the future.  When you have determined the square footage you will need, you can multiply the square footage by the square foot price of the ceramic tile you have chosen to determine your budget.  This will give you a good idea of what you will be purchasing. 

 If you are measuring by the inch and not the foot remember that 12 inches x 12 inches is 144 square inches which = one square foot so (eg; 198 inches x 69 inches = 13,662 square inches divided by the 144 square inches(which is one square foot) it will be 94.875 square feet before waste, if the tile you choose comes 10.76 square foot per box(10.76 is one square meter) then divide your square footage (Ex: 94.875).