DIY Tiling
How To Measure Your Tiles
Here are our handy tips to help you get the all-important measure up correct. Our first tip, measure twice, in fact, three times, and always remember to order around 10% more to accommodate for cuts and any breakages during installation. We also suggest ordering some extras to store for future use should you need them to ensure the tile batches match.
Our handy tile calculator will also make your measure up even easier!
In this section, we run through our top tile measurement tips.
Click on any topic below and we’ll take you directly to our tips. Come back to this index at any time if you need more information.
| Working out wall tile quantities | Measuring for floor tiles is different than for walls, here’s what you need to know. |
| Working out floor tile quantities | Get it right the first time with our handy hints. |
| Do I need to order spares? | You sure do, and here’s why. |
Our Hot Tip: Our DIY experts have created a super handy DIY guide that will be your best friend throughout your DIY journey - click here to download.
Builder James Bawden shows you a quick and easy way to calculate the number of tiles you'll need.
Working Out Wall Tile Quantities
When you know the right way to measure, it’s easy! To get started, you will need a measuring tape, a pencil and paper, and a calculator.
Unless you are measuring one large single area, it is not a good idea to work in square metres as it may be inaccurate for the number of tiles required. We recommend measuring in meters (see the video above).
Here's how to calculate the number of tiles required:
- Draw out each wall on a piece of paper (not necessarily to scale) and calculate each rectangular section as a separate area.
- Take the “width” measurement in millimetres and divide it by the width of the tile e.g. in the sketch below the room is 1950mm wide. If the chosen tile is 152mm x 152mm then 1950 ÷ 152 = 12.82 tiles. The wall will require 13 tiles wide.
- Now decide how high you would like to tile (sometimes you will have no choice). In our example, the basic tiling is going 1520mm high or 10 rows. (For the cleanest appearance, floor to ceiling tiling is generally recommended)
- Our second area on the wall is where the shower tiling is higher. This goes up an extra 2 rows. The shower width is normally 900mm, so 900 ÷ 152 = 5.92. So the area will require 6 tiles wide and 2 tiles high.
- The first part of the wall is 13 tiles wide by 10 tiles high = 130 tiles. The second part of the wall is 6 tiles wide by 2 tiles high = 12 tiles. Total for the wall = 142 tiles. If you have a window to take out of a wall, simply take the number of tiles required to cover the window from the total for that wall. (Don’t forget to take the sills and sides of the window into consideration)
Our Hot Tip: Find our Tile Quantity Calculator on every tile product page, right where you select the product quantity - it's super easy!
Our Hot Tip: When measuring your tile quantities, don't worry about making allowances for the bath apron tiling because the amount of tiles required for that is the same as the amount of wall covered up by the bath.
Working Out Floor Tile Quantities
Let our experts help you with an easy way to calculate floor tile quantities. To get started, you will need a measuring tape, a pencil and paper, and a calculator.
Unless you are measuring one large single area, it is not a good idea to work in square metres as it may be inaccurate for the number of tiles required. We recommend measuring in meters (see the video above).
Here's how to calculate the number of tiles required:
Use the example below and change out your tile sizes and you’ll be spot on.
Assume we are tiling the passageway in the drawing below with 250mm x 250mm tiles. The length is 6000mm which works out to 24 tiles and the width is 900mm which is 4 tiles (actually 3.6 but 4 tiles across will be needed). The total number of tiles needed will be 24 x 4 tiles = 96 tiles. If we worked out the area simply by multiplying the length by the width, the answer would be 5.4 square metres which are 86 tiles. As you can see, this would have been quite wrong being 10 tiles short! So remember – work in tiles, not square metres.
If you are still not certain about quantities, just draw out your measurements on some paper and one of our friendly tile consultants will be only too pleased to work it out for you.
Do not forget you may need an edging of “step treads” (very tough anti-slip tiles) to go on any steps down. You will probably also need brass angles to put along the edge of any unfinished tiling where it butts up against another type of flooring.
Our Hot Tip: Find our Tile Quantity Calculator on every tile product page, right where you select the product quantity - it's super easy!
Why Do I Need To Order Extra Tiles?
That’s a great question! Extra tiles compensate for any breakages that may happen during installation that can come from tricky cuts. Extra tiles are also super handy for you in the future. Keep spare tiles in the garage or shed and you’ll thank yourself later if you want to make any changes, for example, add a powerpoint. Of course, life happens and accidents are normal! Spare tiles make life’s little accidents an easy fix.
A big reason why you should buy your tiles all in one is that they’re produced in batches and each batch has subtle differences. If you buy two different batches, the tiles could look a little different and if you had to replace any tiles in the future, we’d hate for the look of your room to change so keeping spares removes that chance.
Our Hot Tip: If in doubt, just buzz your local store! We are here to help - find your store here.
Our Hot Tip: If you end up with a lot of extra tiles you can always have a bit of fun with a creative DIY project - check out our 'Fun Things To Do With Tiles' inspiration gallery here.
