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How do you decide how much carpet you’ll need? You don’t want to overestimate and blow your whole budget, but you also don’t want to underestimate — if your installers don’t bring enough material, it’ll delay the job and disrupt your home for longer, and no one wants that.
Here at Sloane’s, there’s no need to worry. After we provide you with an estimate of how much your carpet will cost, we send one of our installer partners to your home to get the much more precise measurement. But how do you estimate how much you might need so that you can get a sense of cost?
Basically, measuring for carpet is just a matter of measuring the length and width of the room, then multiplying them together to get the square footage. If your bedroom is 10 by 15 feet, you’ll need 150 square feet of carpet for that room. But most carpets aren’t just installed in a single, rectangular room.
You’ll also need to take into account hallways, closets, and any other small areas that you might overlook. Use masking tape to mark off the areas you’ve already measured so you don’t lose track, and draw a rough floor plan of the area so you know you’re not missing anything.
If you have angled spaces in your room, don’t worry! The area of a triangle is just half the area of a rectangle with the same dimensions. In most cases, the angled area is small enough that you can just ignore it. You’ll have a little extra corner of scrap carpet leftover, but it’s easier than trying to account for it.
One of the more difficult pieces of carpet to estimate is stairs. Each stair is made of the tread (the part that you stand on) and the riser (the flat part at the back). Most stairs have an eight-inch riser and a ten-inch tread and are 36 inches wide, so each step is 4.5 square feet of carpet.
Unfortunately, not all stairs are that simple. Some steps have noses — little rounded caps that add area to each step. Some people choose to only carpet the tread, not the riser. Some people have cap stairs, open on one side with railings. All of these things will affect your estimate. But don’t panic! We’ve put together this handy guide to measuring your stairs for carpet.
Generally, we recommend that you round up. Round your measurements up to the nearest foot, then round your final estimate up by 10%. You’ll be left with some scraps, but there are lots of useful things you can do with those! And it’s much easier than having to send the installers back for more supplies.
To get a detailed estimate of how much carpet you’ll need, use our estimator worksheet. Download it right here and get started today!
Carpet Estimator DownloadBefore you set out to measure your space, make sure you identify all the areas that are to be carpeted. How many rooms? Will you carpet inside the closets? Have you included hallways? What about stairs? Don’t forget the area extending into the doorways. Often people think about the main rooms they wish to carpet but omit the extra connecting spaces.
Measure the square footage of the primary rooms including closets, doorways, and hallways. It is best to round up inches to the nearest foot. If the area is irregular, divide it into squares or rectangles, measure each portion and add them all together.
Count the number of steps. Since most steps are about five square feet, multiply the number of steps by 5 to get the estimated square footage for your stairs. If you wish, bring in a picture of your stairs – that helps a lot! (Stairs can vary, which is why a picture is often very helpful.)
Once you add the square footage of all your spaces and stairways, add another 10% for trim. Then if you multiply this number by the cost/square foot of the carpeting you’ve selected, you can estimate your total carpet cost. Don’t forget there will be additional costs for padding and installation.
Don’t worry. Your home’s final measurements will be confirmed by a professional. We will send someone to your home to ensure that all of the pre-installation measurements are correct. We take care of all of the details and it couldn’t be easier!
I recently had a great experience at Sloane’s Carpet Secret. Anyone who needs carpeting should check this place out. Not only do they have a great selection at GREAT prices compared to everyplace else I shopped, but they were also incredibly accommodating on meeting my tight timeline for installation. I was able to get carpet delivered and installed in just a few days. The staff was super helpful and the whole experience was a total winner. If you need carpeting, you should definitely try Sloane’s Carpet Secret.