Square Metres to Linear Metres

Square metres become lineal metres when you are buying boards, fascia, or metal strip by the length. A 10 square metre floor at a 100 mm cover width is 100 lineal metres before waste. Decking, cladding battens, and hardwood strips all use the same division. The cover width is the width that shows after the joint, not the width of the board if a tongue is already counted in the next board.

Square metres to linear metres is a division, and it is only as good as the width. Area divided by cover width is the length of strip that covers that area if every strip sits tight and you ignore offcuts. A floor of 10 square metres laid with boards whose cover width is 100 mm needs 10 divided by 0.1, which is 100 linear metres. The same floor at 200 mm cover width needs 50 linear metres. The wider board covers more area per metre of length, so you buy fewer metres. Enter the width in feet, or metres on the metric toggle. If the pack says 140 mm, type 0.14, not 140. Typing 140 would divide the area by 140 and produce a tiny length that looks like a bug and is actually a unit mistake. Thickness belongs on a volume calculator. A 20 mm thick board does not change this length.

Waste comes after the division. Ten percent on 50 linear metres is 55 linear metres. That percentage is for ends you cut off, a crooked wall, and a board you damage. It is not inside the division, so you can see the bare length and the length you might order as two lines. If the product is sold in 2.4 m lengths, 55 divided by 2.4 is 22.92, and the piece count rounds up to 23. Leave piece length at 0 when the merchant sells a random-length run by the metre and a piece count would be fiction. The deck calculator uses this same division for decking boards and adds a joist layout. The baseboard calculator starts from the room perimeter and subtracts 0.9 m per door, which is the right model for trim and the wrong model for a floor. Carpet linear metres on the carpet page divide area by the roll width. Use that page when the roll width is the number you were given.

Tongues and gaps are the usual reason the length comes out short on site. If the pack quotes an overall width and a cover width, use the cover width, because the tongue hides inside the next board and does not cover floor. If you are leaving a visible gap, the gap is not covered and the pieces are spaced, so the module is cover width plus gap and you should add the gap to the width you type. That is the same idea as the tile calculator's grout joint, applied to a linear board. Do not add the gap and also add a large waste percentage for the same gap. Pick one place for it. Offcuts from a staggered joint are what the waste percentage is for. A herringbone or a diagonal layout wastes more at the edges. Raise the percentage when the layout is not straight. The page will not guess which layout you chose.

Several areas add. Convert each rectangle, circle, or L on the square footage calculator, add the square metres, and bring the total here. Do not average the widths of two different boards. A border in a narrower board is a second division. Packs of flooring that are sold by the square metre do not need this page at all: the laminate, vinyl, and hardwood calculators divide area by the pack's square metres. Come here when the price list or the cutting list is in linear metres or in pieces of a stated length. There is no price per metre on this page. If you know your price, multiply the linear metres with waste by that price yourself, or use the flooring cost calculator when you are buying by the square metre instead.

Area starts at 10 m². Area to cover in square metres. Piece width starts at 0.1 m. Piece cover width in metres. Waste allowance starts at 10 %. Applied after the division, for cuts and offcuts. It is your percentage. Ten percent is only the number in the field. Piece length starts at 2.4 m. Length of one piece in metres. Switch to ft / in for feet.