Tile Calculator
Tiles, thinset, and waste for a floor or wall.
Your estimate
Estimates only. Renovate Cafe's calculators are a planning aid, not professional advice — double-check your inputs, confirm coverage on the product you buy, and verify quantities and local code for structural, electrical, or permitted work. Disclaimer.
Enter the area you're tiling and the size of one tile. Renovate Cafe returns how many tiles you need with the right waste factor for your layout, plus the thinset to set them and the cost.
Count by area, not by tile
The reliable way to buy tile is by area plus a waste factor, not by counting tiles one at a time. Find the area you're covering (length × width), find the area of a single tile (its width × length, divided by 144 to get square feet), and divide. That's your bare tile count before any cutting.
Then add waste, and this is where people come up short. A straight grid layout wastes about 10%. A diagonal or running-bond offset wastes 15% because the edge cuts don't reuse. Herringbone and other complex patterns can hit 20%. The calculator applies the factor for the layout you pick.
Thinset, and a strong tip
Thinset coverage depends on tile size and trowel notch, but a rough planning number is about 95 square feet per 50-lb bag for small and medium tile, less for large-format. The calculator estimates bags from your area.
The tip that saves jobs: buy it all at once, from the same batch. Tile is dyed in lots, and two boxes from different lots can be visibly different shades. Buying your full waste-adjusted quantity in one purchase means your spares match the floor years later when you need to swap a cracked tile.
Frequently asked questions
How much extra tile should I buy for waste?
How do I calculate how many tiles I need?
How much thinset do I need?
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