How many tiles do I need?
Divide the area to cover by the area of one tile, then add 10–15% for cuts, breakage, and future repairs. A 12×12-inch tile is 1 sq ft, so a 100 sq ft floor needs ~100 tiles bare, or ~110–115 with waste. Buy the extra from the same dye lot, since colors shift between production runs.
Source: Area ÷ tile area + waste · Verify against your AHJ and the adopted code edition.
Tile count is area ÷ tile area, plus a waste allowance:
- Find one tile’s area. A 12×12-inch tile is 1 sq ft; a 12×24 is 2 sq ft; a 6×6 is 0.25 sq ft.
- Divide the floor (or wall) area by that. A 100 sq ft floor of 12×12 tiles needs ~100 tiles bare.
- Add waste. 10% for a simple straight lay, 15%+ for diagonal or large-format tile, or a busy room with many cuts. That’s ~110–115 tiles here.
Two tips: order the extra in the same dye lot (colors drift between runs), and if the box lists tiles per box, divide your total by that to get whole boxes.
Work it out: the tile & flooring calculator takes the area and tile size, applies a waste allowance, and returns the tile count — and the number of boxes if you enter tiles per box.