Flooring waste calculator

Allow roughly 5–10% cutting waste for straight layouts and 10–15% for diagonal or herringbone. Waste is the material left after boards are cut around walls, corners and doorways – the exact figure depends on the room shape and whether offcuts can be reused in another row.

Common planning allowances

• Straight layout in a simple room: often around 5–10%.
• Diagonal layout: often around 10–15%.
• Herringbone and angled patterns: often around 10–15%, sometimes more in complex spaces.

These are broad planning ranges, not guarantees. Always check the flooring manufacturer’s instructions, especially when a pattern uses separate left- and right-hand boards or requires fixed starter pieces.

Calculate an allowance manually

Multiply the floor area by one plus the waste rate written as a decimal. For a 7% allowance, multiply by 1.07.

What increases cutting waste?

Short walls, angled corners, narrow hallways, islands and columns create more cuts. Waste also depends on board length, laying direction, pattern and the minimum permitted length for starter and end pieces. Buying complete boxes adds another rounding effect.

Not every cut is waste. A sufficiently long piece from the end of one row may start the next row if the end joints remain properly staggered. Simulating each board row can therefore produce a more useful estimate than simply adding a percentage.

Compare layouts before ordering

Draw the actual room in Parquet Planner, enter the plank dimensions and compare straight, staggered, diagonal, herringbone and chevron-style layouts. The planner shows estimated boards, packs, buyable area and waste for each choice. Change the laying direction to see whether the result improves.