How can I calculate how much tile I need for a bathroom shower?

Dianne
by Dianne

How to figure tile for a bathroom shower?

  5 answers
  • Vimarhonor Vimarhonor on Aug 13, 2019

    Hello. It cn be overwhelming, in addition to browsing the endless choices at tile superstores, I personally find browsing the Houzz or Pinterest web sites to have some awesome visuals to consider in aspects of design ideas and different tile pattern applications.

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  • Seth Seth on Aug 13, 2019

    Dianne,

    You'll need to figure not just the square footage of the area you want to tile, but also take into consideration the size of the tile, grout line width, and how many tiles you might need to cut to fit the space or create the pattern you want. There might be some waste you can't avoid. Also add a little extra for mistakes you might make (if you are doing this yourself), breakage or irregular tiles you don't want to use, and extra for possible future replacements that will match. Many tiles come in odd dimensions that you can round up to account for grout width. (A 6x6 inch tile might actually measure 5 7/8.) They might already have little tabs to help with the spacing. If you can buy some of the tile you want to use ahead of time, line them up in the shower enclosure on the base and see how they lay out. It will help you visualize cuts you need to make, see how the inside corners match up, and help make an accurate determination of how many tiles you need based on the height. You can also then make adjustments to your plan, maybe even change the tile, once you see how it looks. Here are some tile calculators that might help:

    https://www.google.com/search?q=tile+area+calculator&oq=tile+area+calculator&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.5355j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8


  • Bijous Bijous on Aug 13, 2019

    Hi Dianne. Height times width gives you the overall surface you need to cover. So, measure the back wall height, then width. Multiply those two numbers together. Then divide that by 144 and you have the square footage for the back wall.


    Next the side wall(s); again divide each section by 144 and add those numbers together. Now you have the total square footage needed to do your project.


    Tiles are typically sold is boxes each box totaling X square feet. There may be overage, but it's better to buy more than less (breakage; incorrect cuts, etc). Also make sure the boxes of tiles are all the same dye lot and production date. Good luck!

  • Crystle Gibson Crystle Gibson on Aug 17, 2019

    Figure the sq. Footage of the walls and add about 10%.

    keep in mind that floor tiles are different from wall tiles so figure the floor separately.

  • Lindsay Aratari Lindsay Aratari on May 31, 2021

    Figure out the square footage