Calculating How Much Wood You’ll Need When You aren’t Covering the Whole Floor

Sometimes you’ll run into a scenario where you want to install hardwood flooring but you don’t want to place hardwood flooring across the entire room. This happens if you have permanent fixtures that cannot be moved or fixtures in which you won’t want to put hardwood flooring under. To calculate the square footage you’ll need for a regular sized room or for other odd shapes check out our other “Calculating” articles on our “Articles and FAQ’s” page.

1. Write down the name to each room on a paper before you start. Note the measurements of each room next to or under the room’s name as you measure.
2. Find the longest part of the room and measure it from end to end. Do the same for the widest part of the room. Include the inside of doorways into these measurements. Ignore all your furniture and fixtures. Just find the longest and widest part.
3. Multiply the length times the width to get a total amount of square footage for the entire room.
4. Measure the length and width of each permanent fixture. Examples include a fireplace or built in wall cabinet.
5. Multiple the length times the width of each permanent fixture to get the total square footage of each.
6. Subtract the total square footage of each permanent fixture from the total square footage of the overall room.
7. Multiply this new final number by 10% or .10. Add the result to the final number. This accounts for waste. For example, if your new final number was 150 square feet, then 150 x .10 = 15. Adding 15 to 150 gives you 165 square feet.

Taking this new final total, including the amount allotted for waste to your local authorized Wood Monsters reseller will help them when ordering the specific amount of boxes you’ll need to finish your floor. If your permanent fixtures are other shapes, including triangles (such as those found in corners of a room), you’ll find other calculation formulas on our Helpful Math Formulas page.