Carpet Calculator
Carpet is sold by the square yard (or m²) and comes off a 12-foot or 15-foot wide roll. Enter your room — we'll size the order with seam-aware waste.
Advanced options
- Floor area
- 0 sq ft
- With waste factor
- 0 sq ft
- Square yards (raw)
- 0
- Pad needed
- 0 sq yards
- Estimated cost (carpet + pad)
- —
How the carpet calculator works
Carpet rolls come in standard widths — almost always 12 ft (3.66 m) or 15 ft (4.57 m). If your room is wider than the roll, you need a seam. If your room is longer than the roll, you order multiple pieces. We size the order based on these constraints, not just total square footage.
Why "square yards" not square feet
Carpet has been sold by the square yard in the US for over a century. 1 sq yd = 9 sq ft. Most US installers and stores still quote in sq yd. International / metric markets use m² directly. If you know sq ft, divide by 9 for sq yd; if you know m², it's already in the right unit.
Pile direction (the gotcha)
Carpet has a nap — fibers lean in one direction. If you rotate a piece 90° to fit it next to another piece, the nap goes the wrong way and the carpet looks two-toned even with no actual seam. Always lay carpet with all pieces' nap pointing the same direction. This is why a 13×14 ft room needs more carpet than 13×14=182 sq ft suggests — you can't rotate sections.
Seams and waste
- Single piece (no seam) — 10% waste plenty.
- One seam — 12–15% waste. Plan the seam in a low-traffic area, perpendicular to natural light if possible (less visible).
- Multiple seams or stairs included — 18–25% waste.
- Patterned carpet — add 5–10% on top of all the above for pattern matching.
Don't forget the pad
Carpet pad is a separate purchase. Match the carpet's square yardage 1:1. Better pad ($1–2 more per sq yd) extends carpet life by years; cheap pad shows wear patterns through the carpet within 18 months.
Common questions
Can I install carpet over old carpet?
Don't. Lift the old carpet and pad first. Old pad compresses unevenly under new pad and creates visible humps within a few months. The whole "two layers of comfort" thing isn't real.
What's a Berber vs plush vs frieze?
Berber has tight loops (durable, casual, hides marks). Plush has cut pile, formal-looking. Frieze has twisted-tipped fibers (informal, hides footprints). They're priced similarly per sq yd; choice is mostly aesthetic + traffic.
What does it cost installed?
For a typical bedroom (~16 sq yd), expect $400–$1,200 installed including pad. Carpet itself runs $1.50–$5/sq ft for residential, $5–$15 for designer. Installation is $1–$2/sq ft on top of materials. See the flooring cost guide for detailed pricing across types.
Considering hard-surface flooring instead? Compare in the hardwood vs laminate comparison or use the flooring calculator.