Measure Rubber Tile

When measuring out a room to calculate the number of tiles needed to cover that area, the first thing to do is to section off the room into squares to calculate the total square feet of the room. See the picture below for a visual example.

In this example of an L-shape room, the total square feet of the room is then the length x width of the red square plus the length x width of the blue square.

I.E. Blue area square feet = 14 X 10 = 140 square feet
Red area square feet = 24 X 12 = 288 square feet
Total square feet = 140 + 288 = 428 square feet

After the total square feet of the room is calculated, the best practice to figure out how many interlocking heavy duty or tight-lock rubber tiles are needed is to divide the total square feet by the square foot coverage for each tile. The premium interlocking and tight-lock tiles are 36” x 36” but there is some overlapping of the tiles where they lock together so it is best to think of them as 34.5” x 34.5”

Note: Each interlocking heavy duty or tight-lock tile is actually 8.25 square feet in total area however there is a 10% loss factor to calculate into installing flooring and using 7.5 square feet per tile as the unit of measure automatically adds that factor into the equation. Remember it is always better to have extra than not have enough.

I.E. interlocking heavy duty rubber tile or tight-lock floor tile:
428 square feet ÷ 8.25 square feet/interlocking or tight-lock tile = 51.88 tiles. We then recommend always adding about 10% more tiles in order to have extras in case mistakes are made during cutting them in during installation and to have a few extras in case some get damaged over time. 51.88 tiles x 1.10 = 57.08 total tiles recommended which can then we could round to 57 total tiles needed. Note: Dividing 428 SF by 7.5 will also yield 57 recommended tiles and that is why it is sometimes easier to just divide by 7.5 since the 10% loss factor is automatically added in.

Our low cost zip tiles are 28.5” x 28.5” however the tiles once again overlap at the locks which means they actually cover 5.20 square feet each, and once again a 10% loss factor is always recommended when installing tile products.

I.E. Zip Rubber Tiles:
428 square feet ÷ 5.20 square feet/ zip tile = 82.31 tiles. We then recommend always adding about 10% more tiles in order to have extras in case mistakes are made during cutting them in during installation and to have a few extras in case some get damaged over time. 82.31 tiles x 1.10 = 90.54 tiles which is rounded to 91 total tiles recommended.

Our Heavy Duty ½” thick Mega-Lock and ¾” thick Extreme tiles are 30” x 30” each and when factoring in tile overlap where they lock together, they actually cover 5.6 square feet each. Once again the 10% loss factor is also recommended for the tile products.

I.E. Mega-Lock or Extreme Tiles: 428 square feet ÷ 5.60 square feet/ zip tile = 76.43 tiles. We then recommend always adding about 10% more tiles in order to have extras in case mistakes are made during cutting them in during installation and to have a few extras in case some get damaged over time. 76.43 tiles x 1.10 = 84.07 tiles which is rounded to 84 total tiles recommended.

For the best method of installing Interlocking Tiles, click on the Installation Instructions tab on the products page.

Should you have any other questions on how many Interlocking Tiles are required for your particular installation, please feel free to contact RubberFlooringInc.com and we will be more than happy to assist you to the best of our abilities.