Room Measurement Calculator
🇨🇦 Canada version
Canadian floor plans and flooring boxes are usually in square feet, even though metres are the official unit. This version opens in feet, accepts shorthand like 12'6", subtracts doors and windows from the walls, totals your rooms, and turns the area into boxes of flooring with a waste allowance.
Use Room Measurement Calculator online
Room Measurement Calculator
Work out floor area, wall area, perimeter and volume for every room in a project, deduct doors and windows, and turn the totals into a materials order.
Feet-and-inches shorthand works: 12'6", 12 6 or 12-6.
Feet-and-inches shorthand works: 12'6", 12 6 or 12-6.
Canada rules and figures
- Canadian homes and flooring packs are usually measured in square feet, so this page starts in feet and sq ft, not metres.
- Length boxes accept feet-and-inches shorthand such as 12'6", which is read as 12.5 ft.
- Boxes start at 20 sq ft and 10% waste, which are placeholders for the figures printed on your product.
- Federal GST of 5% applies, and some provinces add HST or sales tax, so check whether the price you type includes it.
Sources: Canada Revenue Agency: Canada tax authority (GST/HST) (checked 2026-11-08)
How the Room Measurement Calculator works
Lengths in feet and inches become decimal feet, and every room is a plain rectangle with a flat ceiling. Areas and volumes follow, and the material tab rounds the waste-adjusted area up to whole boxes.
floor = L × W (sq ft); baseboard run = 2(L + W); net wall = run × H − Σ openings; boxes = ceil(area × (1 + waste) ÷ 20)
- The sample plan has an 18 × 14 ft room and a 12 × 11 ft room under 9 ft ceilings. The larger one already holds two 3 × 6.67 ft doors and two 4 × 5 ft windows.
- Shorthand such as 12'6", 12-6, 12 6 or 12ft 6in all read as 12.5 ft. An inch value of 12 or more is rejected.
- A box covers 20 sq ft by default, with 10% waste and no price. A herringbone lay at 20% needs noticeably more.
- Choose metres in Display units to enter rooms the metric way, and the typed sizes convert.
How to use the Room Measurement Calculator
- Enter sizes in feet. Type length, width and ceiling height, such as 12'6", for every room. Use Add room for each extra room in the plan.
- Add each opening. Press + Door or + Window for every opening, then enter its width, height and how many of them there are.
- Check the totals. On Totals, read the floor, net wall, ceiling, volume in cubic feet and the baseboard run.
- Order the flooring. On Materials set the waste for the layout, the square feet in a box and its price in dollars.
- Export the figures. Copy summary or Export CSV sends the numbers to a contractor or a store.
Example: Two rooms in feet, herringbone flooring with 20% waste
The 18 × 14 ft living room gives 252 sq ft of floor and the 12 × 11 ft bedroom 132 sq ft, so 384 sq ft in all. Baseboard runs 110 ft and the volume is 3,456 cu ft. Net wall is 880.17 sq ft after 109.83 sq ft of openings. A herringbone lay with 20% waste needs 460.80 sq ft, which is 24 boxes of 20 sq ft.
When to use the Room Measurement Calculator
- Finishing a basement floor. Enter the basement rooms and see the boxes of vinyl plank needed with a typical cutting allowance.
- Ordering baseboard. Use the total perimeter in feet and subtract doorway widths before dividing by the board length.
- Drywall for a renovation. Use the net wall area to estimate sheets, adding waste for offcuts.
- Sizing a furnace or fan. Read the volume in cubic feet as an input when talking to an HVAC installer.
What the Room Measurement Calculator does not do
- Switching units converts the typed sizes (rounded to 4 decimals), so flipping back and forth can leave tiny rounding differences. Metric and feet-and-inches shorthand cannot be mixed: inch shorthand is read only in feet mode.
- Rooms are rectangles with flat ceilings. For an L-shape, add two rooms; sloping ceilings need an average height.
- The Materials tab prices whole units only, so the cost is units times the price you enter, with no discounts, tax or delivery. Outside the US no starting price is filled in.
- Opening areas ignore frames and reveals, and every door or window you add uses a typed size, not a catalogue size.
- Measure real rooms at several points: the tool trusts the one number you type for each side.
When something else is a better fit
- When you are estimating paint and want coats, texture and colour change built in, use the Paint Calculator.
- When you need to convert measurements between feet, metres and inches, use the Unit Converter.
- When the room is irregular or you need a scaled drawing, use a floor-plan or CAD app, or a laser measure with a sketch.
Questions about the Room Measurement Calculator
How many boxes of flooring do 384 sq ft need?
At 20% waste for herringbone, 460.80 sq ft takes 24 boxes of 20 sq ft. At the default 10% it takes 22. The waste setting changes the order more than most people expect.
How do I type 12 feet 6 inches?
Enter 12'6", 12-6, 12 6 or 12ft 6in, or use decimal feet such as 12.5. Inches of 12 or more are rejected, and metric mode accepts plain numbers only.
Can I use metres for a metric plan?
Yes. Pick metres in Display units and typed sizes convert at once. The box cover converts from 20 sq ft to 1.86 m², so reset it if your box is labelled differently.
What is the difference between net and gross wall?
Gross wall is perimeter times height. Net wall takes off the doors and windows you entered. Use net for drywall or panels and gross for paint.
Does the price include tax?
It uses what you type. Federal GST is 5% and some provinces add their own tax, so enter the price you pay at the till if you want the cost to match.