| Sizing Floors |
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How much flooring will you need. Now that your basement is broken up into rooms you’ll need to get an exact measurement so you can start shopping for flooring materials. It would be wonderful if all rooms were square or rectangular. To calculate the room’s size simply multiply the width times the length. A 10-ft. X 12-ft. room has 120 sq. ft. of floor. However, many rooms include closets, doorways, alcoves, and other mathematical challenges. Fortunately, most of them are made up of rectangles. By measuring each rectangle and adding the results to the other rectangles you can come up with a total sq. ft. for flooring. Hold on. There’s waste. Depending on the type of flooring material you select, the shape of rooms, and your own skills, add 10 to 20 percent to the total as the waste factor. Frankly, 10 percent is usually adequate even for the first time do-it-yourselfer if she or he plans the job and takes time to prep and install it. Also, lower quality flooring materials may have more culls or bad pieces that shouldn’t be installed. In fact, some manufacturers suggest you allow up to 5 percent for culls.
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