About Smart Tile Calculator
Smart Tile Calculator exists for one reason: nobody should drive back to the tile store because they ordered one box short. We build free calculators that turn a tape measure reading into a real shopping list — tiles, boxes, grout, thinset, trim and total cost.
Who builds it
Smart Tile Calculator is published by Dixon App Studio LLC, a small independent software studio in Elgin, South Carolina, USA. The same studio publishes the Smart Tile Calculator app for Android and calculator sites for other trades, including Smart Roofing Calculator and Smart Decking Calculator. There is no sign-up, no paywall and no account: every calculator works the moment the page loads.
What's on the site
- Tile quantity calculators for floors, walls, showers, backsplashes and fireplaces, plus one page per common tile size (2x2 mosaic up to 24x48 large format).
- Pattern calculators for herringbone, chevron, diagonal, basketweave and hexagon layouts, which cut more tile than a straight grid.
- Setting materials: grout, epoxy grout, thinset, self-leveler, backer board, waterproofing membrane and sealer.
- Cost estimators for tile installation, bathrooms, showers, backsplashes and regrouting, with city and state pages.
- Guides on measuring a room or shower, choosing spacers and trowels, and reading a grout coverage chart.
Start from the full calculator list or the guides.
How the calculators work
Every result is plain arithmetic you can check by hand. The main formulas are:
- Tiles = area × (1 + waste %) ÷ area of one tile, rounded up to a whole tile. Boxes = tiles ÷ tiles per box, rounded up, because stores sell whole boxes.
- Waste defaults by layout: 10% for a straight grid, 12% for brick/offset and large format, 15% for diagonal, 18% for basketweave and complex mosaics, 20% for herringbone. You can change the percentage on any calculator.
- Grout is the volume of the joints (tile size, joint width and joint depth) converted to pounds using a density for the grout type — about 110 lb per cubic foot for sanded, 100 for unsanded and 125 for epoxy — then rounded up to whole bags.
- Thinset uses trowel-notch coverage: roughly 95 sq ft per 50 lb bag with a 1/4" × 1/4" square notch, 75 with 1/4" × 3/8", 60 with 3/8" × 3/8" and 45 with 1/2" × 1/2".
- Installed cost = tile (with waste) at a low–high price range for the material, plus about $2.25 per sq ft of setting materials, plus labor from a $10 per sq ft national base adjusted by region. Leave labor out for a DIY estimate.
The calculations run in your browser. If you save an estimate, it is stored on your own device and nowhere else.
How accurate are the results?
The quantity math is exact for the numbers you enter; the uncertainty is in the inputs. Rooms are rarely perfect rectangles, real joint depth depends on how thick the tile is and how deep you rake the joints, and thinset coverage depends on the substrate and whether you back-butter. Prices are typical U.S. ranges and drift over time, so local quotes always win.
Before you order, it's worth:
- measuring each section of an L-shaped room separately and adding them up;
- checking tiles per box and the bag coverage printed on the products you're buying;
- buying all your tile from one production lot, since shade varies between lots and a later top-up may not match;
- keeping a few spare tiles after the job for future repairs.
The disclaimer explains the limits in more detail.
Corrections
When someone reports a result that looks wrong, we reproduce it, fix the formula if it is ours, and add an automated test that pins the corrected answer so it can't quietly break again. If you spot a problem, the support page explains what to send.
How we pay for it
The calculators are free and always will be. The site is supported by advertising from Google AdSense (clearly separated from the calculators) and by a small commission when you buy a tool or material through an Amazon link on this site, at no extra cost to you. That funds the hosting and the research — it never changes the math. How advertising cookies work is explained in our privacy policy, and affiliate links in the affiliate disclosure.
Contact
Questions, corrections and calculator requests go to support@smarttilecalculator.com — see the contact & support page.