This guide will help you to measure any room in your house, to get the measurements you need to buy your chosen flooring. At first it can seem daunting to measure a room but it really doesn’t have to be, it can be quite simple. Just take a deep breath and get stuck in.

Before you start you will need the following:

•    A Pen or Pencil

•    Tape Measure

•    Calculator

When measuring your room please take into consideration the pattern and texture of your chosen floor covering. Try not to work out the sizes so that the pattern or textures go off in different directions as this will ruin the look and feel of your new carpet/floor covering. This is usually related to measuring your hall, stairs and landing.

Please note that this is only a measuring guide and should not be used as an installation guide. We recommend hiring a professional fitter to install your chosen flooring.

Measuring For Carpets

1.    To start of you will need to measure your room’s width and length at the widest point of the room. Don’t forget this includes any Bay’s e.g. bay windows and door ways. (Please see diagram A for help with this)

2.    Once you have these measurements please add on a further 10cm as this will allow for cutting in during your installation.

3.    After you have these measurements check that the width of your room is less than the width the carpet comes in.  Carpets usually come in 4m and 5m widths. If your room is anything over 4m width including the 10cm for cutting in then you will need to buy your chosen carpet in the 5m width.

4.    If the width of your room is over 5m then you will probably need a seam down 1 side of the room.

5.    If you are unsure about any of the 4 steps above, our friendly experts can help you, just give them a phone call on 0800 433 2009 or email them at help@ulovecarpets.co.uk

Hall, Stairs and Landing

Measuring your hall, stairs and landing can be a bit trickier to measure as there will be additional measurements to a normal room.

1.    First you should measure your hallway. This can be measured similar to measuring a room (See diagram B for help with this). With a hallway the width of the carpet will most likely be no more than 4m, but more often than not it will be a lot less. This is where a bit of calculation may be needed as you could get the width of your stairs out of the same roll, as long as you want the same carpet for both.

2.    Next you need to measure the stairs taking into account the tread and riser. To do this you need to measure the tread by the riser (See diagram C for help with this). If all your steps are the same size you can simply measure 1 of the steps then multiply this by the quantity of steps in your home.

3.    Finally the landing needs to be measured, you can do this similar to the way you measured the Hallway or a room (See diagram B for help with this).

4.    Once you have all the measurements you can plan what width and how much carpet you’ll need. This relates back to the 1st step. It can be difficult to work out how much carpet you’ll need for these 3 areas of your house, if you having trouble then we advise you contact 1 of our experts on 0800 433 2009 who will happily talk you through the measurement process and work out how much carpet you’ll need.

Top Tips on measuring for Carpets

•    Try and make seams run towards the primary light source where possible but keep them to a minimum.

•    Carpets should always run in the same direction especially with patterned or striped carpets.

•    Always begin measurements in the centre of doorways rather than the bottom of walls.

Vinyl

1.    To measure your room for vinyl you will need to measure the width and length of the room at its widest points, remembering to go into doorways and bay windows. (See diagram A for help)

2.    Once you have those measurements add an extra 10cm for cutting in.

3.    Vinyl’s usually come in 2,3 and 4 meter widths so remember this when working out the width of your room.

Top Tips on measuring for Vinyl

•    Any seams in vinyl should never fall perpendicular to doorways.

•    Seams should run towards primary light sources where possible but try to keep seams to a minimum and avoid where possible.

•    Always being measurements in the centre of doorways rather than the bottom of walls.