Flooring guide
How to measure a room for carpet
Carpet is different from planks and tile: it comes off a roll of fixed width, so you buy full-width strips. That is why a carpet order is often noticeably larger than the floor area.
1. Measure the room
Measure length and width wall to wall, and extend into doorways to where the carpet will meet the next floor. Round up to the next inch. Measure closets separately.
2. Choose the roll direction
Strips run along one direction of the room. Pile direction and light from windows affect how seams look, so this is a decision to make with your installer. Enter the length in the roll direction and the width across it.
3. Count the runs
Linear length = room length × runs × (1 + allowance)
A 14 × 12 ft room on a 12 ft roll needs one run. Make it 13 ft wide and you need two runs, a seam, and you pay for an 11 ft wide offcut along the second run.
4. Convert to square yards
Carpet is often priced per square yard in the US. Divide square feet by 9. For the 14 × 12 ft example with a 10% length allowance: 16 linear ft × 12 ft = 192 sq ft = 21.3 sq yd, compared with 18.7 sq yd of actual floor.
Things that change the order
- Pattern repeat, which may need extra length to match across seams.
- Stairs, which are measured tread by tread.
- Several rooms, where an installer may reuse offcuts between rooms.
- The actual roll width of your product; confirm it with the supplier.
Padding is usually priced by floor area, so use the square footage for it, not the carpet order.