Measuring a Room for Carpet or Flooring

Measuring and Fitting Guide for Carpet & Vinyl Flooring

Need Help Measuring Your Home?

As you start taking your first steps towards finding a carpet that works for you, it’s helpful to have a rough idea of how much space you’re covering, and how to measure carpet.

Having this information will help you calculate rough cost of the carpet, underlay and help you know how much carpet you need.

Remember this is a guide, it’s not make or break. It’s worth noting that generally, you’ll need around 5-10% extra to ensure you have enough, and to perfectly cover everything. Accidents happen, be prepared for them with your extra coverage!

How to Measure Your Room

  • First, it can help to draw out a simple diagram of your room/house, it doesn’t have to be accurate, just enough to note down your measurements and understand them.
  • If you have chimney breasts, fireplaces, or alcoves, pretend they aren’t there. The carpet will be cut around them in the final product, but for home carpet measuring, it’s easier to get an idea without them.
  • Use a tape measure to find the width and length of your room
  • Use metric measurement – it’s easier and more commonly used.
  • Measure the room at its longest and widest points
  • Finally, multiply the width by the length to get the area in square metres.

As an example, a 6m x 4m room will need 24 square metres of carpet. To work out how much you can afford per square metre, simply divide your budget figure by the quantity of square metres.

How to Measure Stairs

Measuring carpet for stairs might seem overwhelming at first, but it’s actually quite straightforward!

To work out how much carpet you’ll need, start by measuring two parts of one step:

  • The tread — the flat part where you place your foot (measured from front to back).

  • The riser — the vertical part between each step (measured from top to bottom).

Add these two measurements together to find the carpet length needed for one step. Then, simply multiply this total by the number of stairs to get the full amount of carpet required.

If you need any help or advice when placing your order or fitting your new flooring, Carpet Outlet is here to help. Just get in touch or visit us in-store for more support!