Laminate & vinyl guide
How much laminate do I need?
The usual answer is "room area plus 10 %". The honest answer: it depends on your room. Alcoves, doors, angled walls and the laying direction decide how many planks actually get cut – and whether 5 % reserve is enough or 15 % is needed. floorplanning.app counts the planks from your real floor plan: full planks, cuts, waste in m² and the total including reserve, which you only need to convert into packs.
Count planks instead of estimating square metres
You do not buy laminate in square metres but in packs of whole planks. What matters is therefore not the area but how many planks your room consumes – including every cut plank at walls, doors and heating pipes. That is exactly what the tool counts from your floor plan, row by row.
What matters in practice
Waste depends on room and direction
A clean rectangular room with a matching plank length produces little waste, an angled hallway considerably more. The laying direction also changes the number of cuts. Instead of adding a flat 10 %, you see the real waste in m² on the floor plan – and can pick the direction that consumes less material.
Plan reserve, round up packs
Mis-cuts happen, and a later repair needs planks from the same batch – rebuying the same look is often impossible. So deliberately plan reserve (adjustable as a percentage in the tool) and always round packs up. Important before laying: let packs acclimatise flat in the room for 48 hours.
A real example: 20 m² living room
A 5 × 4 m living room with 128.5 × 19.2 cm planks in third offset: 51 full planks, 47 cuts, 4.3 m² of waste – 106 planks in total including reserve. At 8 planks per pack that is 14 packs. You get this calculation for your room in under a minute.
Why the exact laminate quantity really matters
Ordering too little means a stalled project and batch risk, ordering too much means dead money in the basement. Counting planks from the real floor plan hits the order quantity far more precisely than any flat rate – including deliberate reserve for mis-cuts and later repairs.
- Planks counted individually instead of estimated m²
- Waste in m² visible per direction and stagger
- Reserve as a deliberate percentage instead of gut feeling
- Pack count by rounding up the plank total
How to calculate your demand
1. Capture room
Create the layout including alcoves and doorways.
2. Read result
Review full planks, cuts and total incl. reserve.
3. Order packs
Divide by pack content, round up, acclimatise 48 h.
Common questions
How much waste should I plan for laminate?
Guideline: 5–10 % for straight laying in a simple room, up to 15 % for diagonal laying or angled layouts. It gets more accurate when you have the cuts counted from your real room instead of using flat rates.
How many packs of laminate do I need for 20 m²?
That depends on the pack content – typically 2 to 2.5 m² per pack. For 20 m² plus waste and reserve you usually end up with 9 to 11 packs. More reliable is the plank count from the floor plan, divided by planks per pack, rounded up.
Why should laminate rest for 48 hours before laying?
The material has to adapt to the temperature and humidity of the room. If you lay it straight from cold storage, the floor moves later – gaps form or it buckles. So: store packs flat in the room for 48 hours, not upright and not in the basement.
Should I return leftover packs?
Keeping one opened pack as reserve is usually smarter: after later damage you can hardly get the same decor batch again. Unopened extra packs beyond that can be returned at most retailers.
Related calculators & guides
Calculate laminate demand now
Create your room, enter the plank size and derive the pack count from real numbers.