Flooring guides
Practical guides for planning and doing a floor yourself, from measuring the room to the last piece of trim. Each one works through real numbers using the same formulas as the calculators. Written and maintained by Michał Białas.
Planning
- How to measure a room for flooring
Rectangles, L- and U-shaped rooms, closets, doorways and exclusions: how to get an area and a baseboard length you can trust. - Floor renovation step by step: the order of work and a shopping checklist
The sequence from demolition to trim, the waiting times that set the schedule, and a complete shopping list for one room. - How to estimate your flooring budget, and why rounding once saves money
Building a budget from whole packages, what leftovers really cost, the spare box, and how combining rooms before rounding saves money. - How much will new flooring raise the floor, and when to trim doors
Floor height layer by layer, how much to trim each door, and which transition fits the step to the next room. - How much does a tile floor weigh?
Dead load of each layer, the total per square foot and for the room, and when a heavy floor needs a structural check.
Leveling
- How to check if a floor is level
Flat versus level, the straightedge test, laser height grids, typical tolerances, and turning measurements into bags of leveler. - Screed vs. self-leveling compound: which one you need
Thin versus thick layers, where each product’s limits are, and when a two-layer build-up beats filling a deep slope with leveler. - Bonded, unbonded and floating screed explained
How the three screed methods differ, their typical minimum thicknesses, and which primer, membrane or edge strip each one adds. - How long screed needs to dry, and how to test it
Drying rules of thumb by thickness and product, what speeds or slows drying, and the moisture tests to run before the finish goes down. - Primer before leveling and tiling: when it’s needed and how much to buy
The situations that need primer, why it matters, and how to turn coverage, coats and dilution into containers to buy.
Tiling
- How much extra tile to buy
Waste allowances for straight, offset, diagonal and herringbone layouts, small rooms and large-format tile, and why boxes change the answer. - Which trowel notch size to use, and why back-buttering matters
Trowel notch by tile size, how much thinset each notch uses, when to back-butter, and how to check coverage under a tile. - Sanded, unsanded or epoxy grout: how to choose and how much you need
Which grout for which joint and room, the grout quantity formula, and worked examples from large tile to mosaic. - Large-format tile: leveling clips, lippage, back-buttering and extra waste
Flatness, lippage, leveling clips and wedges, back-buttering, offsets and the extra breakage allowance for big tile. - Tiling over radiant floor heating: what changes in the build-up
Screed cover over the pipes, thickness and weight, the heat-up schedule, flexible thinset and grout, and finishes that insulate too much. - Waterproofing a bathroom floor and shower area before tiling
What to waterproof, how high up the walls, and how to work out membrane, sealing tape, corners and collars for a bathroom floor. - Tiling over an uncoupling membrane: thinset and rolls to buy
Membrane rolls, bond coat and fill-and-set thinset in whole bags, and which mortar goes under and over the mat. - Mosaic, hexagon and penny tile: sheets, thinset and grout
Sheets and boxes, measuring hexagons flat to flat, grout for penny and hexagon tile, and thinset for small pieces.
Laminate & vinyl
- Laminate vs. vinyl plank: how the material list differs
Same plank math, different underlayment, gaps, subfloor flatness and trim. What changes on the shopping list when you switch. - Underlayment for laminate and vinyl: types, vapor barriers and coverage
Underlayment types for laminate and vinyl, which ones include a vapor barrier or suit radiant heat, and how much to buy. - Laminate layout: where to start and how to avoid a thin last row
How wide to cut the first and last rows of laminate or vinyl plank, where to start, and what to do when walls are not parallel. - Vinyl plank and laminate on stairs: what to buy per step
Nosings, tread and riser strips, planks and boxes, adhesive and the stair area, counted step by step. - Herringbone vs chevron: A and B boxes, waste and plank sizes
A and B planks counted separately, pattern waste, the difference between herringbone and chevron, and plank sizes.
Finishing
- Baseboards, corners and transition strips: how to estimate trim
Baseboard length and pieces, inside and outside corners, end caps, fixing, and how transition strips are cut from stock lengths.