Carpets are manufactured to be square. However, perfectly square or rectangular rooms are less common than odd-shaped rooms. In most cases, the carpet will have to be joined to accommodate the floor plan, and this seam placement is important. Carpets also need to be cut and shaped to fit around fixtures, depending on the room in question. These factors need to be accounted for when measuring for carpet. In this article, we will give you some tips on how to measure a room before shopping for a carpet.
How Do You Measure a Room for New Carpet?
The main goal of the tips below is to help give you a guide for an online or over-the-phone, ad hoc quote. Having a good idea of the room size will put you in a good position before the professionals arrive to measure up.
Speaking of professionals, it’s their responsibility to measure before installing. Carpet Land’s team can answer any questions you have regarding the carpet layout or installation while on site.
Step One: Draw the Room
If you don’t have a computer program, no problem – pen, and paper will do just as well. The trick is to have a long enough tape measure or a laser measure. First, you will want to draw an outline of the room. Outside the borders, indicate where the doors and windows are.
Step Two: Measure up
Because rooms are not square, each wall must be measured. Use the measuring tape to find the total. Don’t be alarmed if opposite walls aren’t the same length. You can expect to find a difference of a couple of inches.
Write down the length of the two measurements, and round up that measurement to the nearest half-foot. You will want to have the right amount of carpet, so slightly more, rather than slightly too little, carpeting is always better.
When writing the measurements down, label with Length and Width, the length being the longer side. This is important if your new carpet is going to have a pattern for directional purposes.
Step Three: Calculate
The goal is to calculate the square feet of carpet required. Using the rounded-up, longer measurements, multiply the Length x Width. If you are going to carpet more than one room, add the areas up, and get the total for all the rooms and areas. For example, measuring the length and width of a room:
Family Room – 27.5ft x 13.0ft = 357.50 square feet
Dining Room – 26.5ft x 15.5ft = 410.75 square feet
Hallway – 17.0ft x 4.5ft = 76.50 square feet
Total = 844.75 square feet.
Step Four: Seam Allowance
Extra total square footage needs to be added in order to make allowance for seams. You may need additional yardage to seam up the carpet properly. Especially to place seams in ideal spots.
**Carpet is usually 12 feet wide, planning for proper seam placement does not always align with average square footage. Additional carpet may be recommended**
The rule of thumb would be to add on an extra 5%. Using the total length x width area from the example above:
844.75sft x 5% = 42.24sft
Total Requirement: 844.85sft + 42.24sqt = 887.09 square feet (887.10)
Tip: Calculate the square yardage by dividing the total by 9: 887.10 / 9 = 98.57 square yards.
Patterned Carpets
If the intention is to put down a carpet with a pattern, it is better to invite the professionals in to measure. This is especially true if your room is wider than 12ft.
An extra length of carpet will be required that will have to line up with the carpet pattern. This may not be a straightforward calculation for the area of the room due to the repeat along with seam placement.
Staircases
This calculation is more complicated than measuring a square area. The risers need to be taken into account in the total area. If you want to carpet your staircase, call in a professional to watch and learn from for next time.
Additional Reading: Average Cost to Install Carpet Per Square Foot
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