When installing new carpet or replacing old carpet, one of the first questions you will find yourself asking is: how much carpet do I need? The second question should be: how much extra carpet do I need?
Carpeting, like most flooring, is ordered to fit the size of the space you want to floor and like most flooring, you always want to have a little extra material on hand during your project.
Determining How Much Carpet You’ll Need for Your Space
In general, we recommend ordering at least 10% over your final square footage but this can get a little tricky depending on your room size, shape, and of course carpet type.
As a general rule, most flooring is priced by the square foot. However, in some cases, carpet is priced by the yard instead. This doesn’t make a huge difference in determining the amount you need to order, but it’s good to keep in mind as you’re choosing the product you want installed.
Roll It Up
The biggest difference to consider between carpet and tile or hardwood is that carpet comes in rolls. (Some vinyl flooring also comes in rolls, so this applies to those products as well.) The width of the roll is an important factor in determining how much carpet will be needed for your project. Twelve feet is a standard width for carpet, so if your rooms are all larger than 12’x12’ you will have a seam somewhere. This isn’t anything to be concerned about as professional installers will camouflage it well.
As you’re calculating square footage don’t forget to include closets and hallways. You’ll want to find the square footage of each space and then add them together for your final, finished square footage figure. Measuring spaces individually is the best way to avoid underestimating.
Matching Patterns
Some of the most visually striking carpets have a noticeable pattern. It might be a very bold harlequin, or a much more subtle texture pattern. Either way you want to make sure that the patterns are carefully matched during install to avoid obvious seams. You should plan for a higher amount of overage if you’ve chosen a patterned carpet.
Having flooring experts like us along for the entire project takes your guesswork out of the equation – because we take responsibility for that! You can schedule an estimate directly from our website, or just give us a call.
