Tile Calculator
Calculate the number of tiles for a floor or wall, including a waste margin for cuts, plus estimates for grout and adhesive. Room dimensions use your selected unit; tile sizes use centimeters or inches.
Tile Calculation Results
How the Tile Calculator Works
Tiles aren't laid edge to edge — every tile carries a grout joint on two sides, and over a whole floor those few millimeters add up to whole tiles. The calculator therefore counts tiles by their laid footprint:
Tiles = area ÷ [(tile length + grout gap) × (tile width + grout gap)] × (1 + waste %)
The waste margin covers cut tiles at edges, breakage, and drill-outs for pipes: 10% for a straight lay, 15% for diagonal or herringbone patterns where every edge tile becomes an angled cut. The calculator also estimates the consumables people forget until the third hardware store trip: grout, from the joint volume your tile size and gap create (bigger tiles mean fewer joints and less grout), and adhesive at the standard rate of about 3.5 kg per m² for a notched-trowel bed.
How to Plan a Tiling Job
Measure the area to be tiled — not the whole room if cabinets, a bathtub, or fixed units cover part of it. Walls are measured per wall and summed; window and door openings big enough to matter (over about half a square meter) can be subtracted, but leave small ones as margin.
Grout gap depends on the tile: rectified (precision-cut) tiles look sharp at 2–3 mm; standard ceramic wants 3–4 mm to absorb size variation; natural stone and handmade tiles need 5 mm or more, because the joint is what disguises their irregularity. Larger gaps also mean more grout — the calculator adjusts automatically.
Plan the layout from the room's center line, not from a wall: centering the pattern pushes the cut tiles to the edges symmetrically, where they look intentional. Dry-lay one row before mixing any adhesive. And buy all boxes from one batch (shade codes are printed on the box) — tile batches vary like paint and wallpaper. For the floor underneath adjoining rooms, our flooring calculator handles plank and laminate math; painted walls above a half-tiled bathroom are the paint calculator's territory.
Common Tile Sizes and Their Numbers (per 10 m², 3 mm gap, 10% waste)
| Tile size | Tiles needed | Grout (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 20 × 20 cm | 270 | 5.7 kg |
| 30 × 60 cm | 61 | 3.2 kg |
| 60 × 60 cm | 31 | 2.1 kg |
| 75 × 150 cm | 10 | 1.3 kg |
| Mosaic (5 × 5 cm on mesh) | ~40 sheets | 9+ kg |
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Ordering by room area without accounting for the grout gap and waste margin.
- Starting the layout from a wall, which dumps all the ugly cut tiles in one visible corner.
- Mixing shade batches across boxes.
- Using a 10% margin on a herringbone layout that needs 15–20%.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many extra tiles should I buy?
Add 10% to the calculated count for a straight lay and 15% for diagonal or herringbone patterns. This covers edge cuts, breakage, and mistakes — and leaves a few spares for future repairs, which matter because tile lines get discontinued quickly. Store spares flat, in the original box.
What size grout gap should I use?
2–3 mm for rectified (precision-edged) tiles, 3–4 mm for standard ceramic, and 5 mm or more for natural stone and handmade tiles, where the joint absorbs their size variation. Floors generally take the wider end of each range. Never butt tiles at 0 mm — surfaces move, and grout is the flex.
How much adhesive do I need for tiling?
Plan about 3.5 kg of powdered adhesive per square meter with a standard 8–10 mm notched trowel, more for large-format tiles that need back-buttering or uneven substrates that need a thicker bed. A 20 kg bag covers roughly 5–6 m² in typical conditions.
How many 60x60 tiles do I need per square meter?
With a 3 mm grout gap, each 60×60 cm tile occupies about 0.363 m² laid, so you need roughly 2.76 tiles per square meter — call it 31 tiles per 10 m² including the standard 10% waste margin. The calculator handles the gap and waste automatically for any size.