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Tile Layout Calculator

Dividing the floor area by the tile area gives a number that is always wrong, because tiles cannot be split and reassembled. What matters is how many fit across and down, and how wide the leftover strip is. A narrow sliver along one wall looks like a mistake and is miserable to cut — and the fix is to shift the starting point, not to buy different tiles.

What this generator does

Works out how many whole tiles fit across and down, how wide the remaining strip is in each direction, and how many tiles that means in total — then adds an allowance for breakage and bad cuts.

How to use this tool

  1. Generate a room and tile size.
  2. Read how many whole tiles fit across and down, and how wide the cut pieces are.
  3. If a cut strip is very narrow, note the suggestion to shift the starting point.
  4. Buy the higher figure — it allows for breakage and bad cuts.

Understanding the controls

Generate
Produces a room between 2 and 6 metres each way, and a tile from a set of common sizes including rectangular ones.
Seed
Any word reproduces exactly the same room, tile size and layout.

Common use cases

  • Working out tile quantities before ordering
  • Spotting a bad layout before the tiles are down
  • Checking a supplier's quantity against your own
  • Teaching why area division is the wrong approach here
  • Setting the same room twice from a seed

How this generator works

The check is stricter than a comparison of areas: the whole tiles plus the cut strip must reconstruct each room dimension exactly, in both directions, and the cut must be genuinely smaller than a tile. It also confirms the tiles bought would actually cover the floor, which area arithmetic alone can get wrong once cuts are involved.

Randomness and fairness

The room dimensions, tile size and waste allowance are random; the layout arithmetic is exact. A seed reproduces the same room exactly and is therefore explicitly not cryptographically secure. Without a seed the browser's cryptographically secure generator is used.

For how randomness is produced across the whole site, see how Generate Random works.

Limitations and good to know

  • A plain grid layout. Brick bond, herringbone and diagonal layouts all waste considerably more.
  • Grout lines are not modelled, which slightly reduces the number of tiles on a large floor.
  • Rectangular rooms only — an alcove or a chimney breast changes the answer.
  • Offcuts are not reused, though in practice a cut from one edge often serves the opposite one.
  • Layouts are not stored between visits; seed one you want again.

Privacy and your data

The layout is computed in your browser and nothing about it or your seed is transmitted or stored.

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