How much carpet do I need?

Carpet is advertised by the square yard or by the square foot depending on the market you live in or the store you go to. A square yard is 9 square feet. Pricing by the square foot can help you compare costs with tile or laminate or wood flooring. So if the carpet you are looking at is sold by the yard just divide by 9 to get your square foot cost.

 

Knowing how much carpet you need is not as easy as figuring out the square footage of your room. That approach works fairly well for tile and wood floors, if you figure in a 5-10% waste factor. Carpet is different because it is manufactured in 12 foot or wider pieces. Carpet is a textile and when it is laid it all has to run the same direction on the floor or it will not appear to be the same color. If the room is wider than the carpet you will have seams where the pieces of carpet are connected together and a decision will have to be made on where those will look best. Also if the carpet has a pattern that needs to be accounted for, you will want the pattern to match on the seam so it will be less noticeable. You can take a diagram of your room(s), including measurements with you when you go to look at carpet, generally people at the store can give you a close estimate of how much you need. But before you buy you should have a flooring professional come out and measure. They can then tell you exactly how much carpet you need depending on the width and pattern repeat* of the carpet you choose.

 

You will want to get three estimates before you make your purchase. So you can compare apples to apples, the estimate should include:

• carpet
• labor
• pad - since there are many types of pad make sure they are quoting the same kind.
• stair labor - if applicable
• tear out and disposal of old carpet - if you are not planning on doing this yourself

We found a great resource for how to create a simple floor plan at The Assistant Product Group site.
Click here to download the pdf instructions.

Look for articles in the near future about types of carpet (wool, nylon, polyester etc.) and types of pad.

*Pattern Repeat is the length and width of the pattern in the carpet.