📐 Prefer pictures? We've turned this into a clearer, illustrated, printable version with step-by-step diagrams: see our How to Measure guide →. The article below is the in-depth read, with wastage tables and roll-width tips.
Getting your measurements right before buying flooring saves you from two equally frustrating outcomes: ordering too little and having to wait for more, or over-ordering and wasting money. It's not complicated once you know the approach — and it's easier than most people think, even for awkward shapes.
This guide covers everything from a simple bedroom to L-shaped living rooms, rooms with bay windows, and stairs.
💡 Rather not measure yourself? We offer free home measuring across Hastings, St Leonards, Bexhill and East Sussex. We'll come to you, measure every room properly, and follow up with an accurate quote. Book a visit →
A steel tape measure (not a fabric one — they stretch), a pencil, and a piece of paper to sketch the room. A phone to photograph the sketch is useful too.
Before you measure anything, draw a rough outline of the room on paper. It doesn't need to be accurate — just a shape you can write numbers on. Mark where the door is. If there are alcoves, chimney breasts, or bay windows, sketch those in too. This stops you losing track of which measurement is which.
Measure wall to wall along the longest wall of the room. Include any small recesses — measure to the furthest point. Write it down.
Measure wall to wall across the room at its widest point. Again, measure to the furthest point if there are any slight irregularities.
Always add 100mm (10cm) to both your length and width measurements. This gives you cutting allowance for fitting — fitting neatly into a room always uses a little more than the bare dimensions.
Multiply your adjusted length × adjusted width to get the area in square metres. For example: 4.1m × 3.6m = 14.76m².
How you measure an L-shape depends on what you're laying. For carpet and sheet vinyl — the most common choice — measure the widest point to widest point and the longest point to longest point, treating the whole room as one big rectangle and carrying your tape a few centimetres over each door threshold. Carpet and vinyl are cut from a roll in one piece, so an L-shape can't be joined without waste; there's always some offcut, and that's perfectly normal.
For plank floors — laminate, LVT or engineered wood — the room can instead be split into two rectangles, measured separately and added together, because the planks are laid piece by piece. The measuring is more involved, though, so we're always happy to come out and do it for you.
💡 Not sure, or it's a tricky shape? Book a free home measure. We'll measure every room properly, plan the cuts to minimise seams, and work out the most economical roll width before you buy. Book a visit →
Measure the room as a simple rectangle first — use the full width including the bay. Then measure the bay separately (its depth and width) and add that area in. The carpet or vinyl needs to continue into the bay, so you need to account for that extra floor space.
Measure the room at its longest and widest points — essentially the bounding rectangle that contains everything. Don't try to subtract the chimney breast or alcoves. The fitter needs the full rectangle of material to work with; the offcuts are unavoidable. If the alcoves are very large and would waste a lot of material, a fitter can sometimes plan the cuts more efficiently — worth discussing when you book the measuring visit.
Stairs are the one part we'd recommend not measuring yourself. Between top and middle landings, winders (the wedge-shaped turning steps) and rounded bullnose bottom steps, they're very easy to get wrong — and a mistake on the stairs is an expensive one. Just let us know roughly how many steps you have, and we'll measure them precisely on the free home visit.
💡 Good to know: stair carpet runs lengthways down the stairs and is cut as runs from a 4m-wide roll, so a single piece usually covers the full width of domestic stairs without any joins — which is why 4m carpet is often the most economical choice for a staircase. We'll work out the exact amount when we measure.
| Flooring type | Recommended allowance | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Carpet (plain) | 10% | Cutting in, pattern alignment if any |
| Carpet (patterned) | 15% | Pattern matching can use extra material |
| Sheet vinyl | 10% | Cutting in around obstacles |
| Laminate / LVT click | 10% | End cuts, doorways, obstacles |
| Herringbone LVT / parquet | 15% | The angled pattern creates more offcuts |
| Glue-down LVT (tiles) | 10% | Edge cuts and breakages |
Carpet and sheet vinyl come in fixed roll widths — usually 2m, 3m, 4m and sometimes 5m. You can't buy exactly 3.7m of 4m-wide carpet; you buy as many linear metres as you need from that roll. This means your room width determines which roll width is most economical.
If your room is 3.5m wide, buying from a 4m roll means you lose 0.5m of carpet all the way down the length — that's wasted money. Sometimes a 5m roll (if available) works out cheaper overall. A good flooring shop will work this out for you before you buy.
Once you have your measurements, write them on your sketch and take a photo of it. Bring this to the showroom or have it ready when you call — it means we can give you an accurate quote immediately and order the right amount first time.
We offer free home measuring visits across Hastings, St Leonards, Bexhill and East Sussex. We'll measure every room, work out the most economical roll width, and give you a written quote with no obligation.
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