Flooring, Planks & Baseboard Takeoff
Planks and boxes for LVP, laminate, and engineered wood, plus underlayment, baseboard pieces with outside corners, and transition strips for every doorway.
Order whole boxes and open every box in the same dye lot. Baseboard is bought in 8 ft sticks, and each outside corner eats a kerf cut and a stick.
How the math works
- Area: length × width; add 10% waste for a straight floor, 15% for a diagonal lay or many closets, 20% for herringbone.
- Planks: bought sq ft ÷ plank area (plankL × plankW ÷ 144). Stagger end joints at least 6 in, more with a short plank as the starter.
- Boxes: bought sq ft ÷ box coverage, rounded up. Boxes are not returnable once opened, so the last box is a sunk cost: order it last.
- Baseboard: linear run + 0.7 ft per outside corner (a kerf bend eats length), then cut into 8 ft sticks. Doorways get a transition strip, not baseboard.
- Underlayment: 100 sq ft rolls for floating floors over hard substrate. Pad is not used under LVP or laminate; glue-down wood uses moisture-barrier pad only where the manufacturer requires it.
How many boxes of flooring for a 15x12 room?
180 sq ft net, 198 sq ft with 10% waste, so 10 boxes at 22 sq ft per box. Order 11 boxes if you are laying diagonally: 15% waste takes you to 207 sq ft.
How much baseboard for a 15x12 room?
30 ft of wall perimeter, minus the 3 ft doorway: 27 ft of run. With 4 outside corners, buy 4 sticks of 8 ft (32 ft) and one transition for the doorway.
What waste allowance should I buy?
10% for a straight lay in a square room, 15% for diagonal, 20% for herringbone or a floor with many closets and odd corners. Buying whole boxes usually overshoots the waste allowance, which is fine.