How much laminate flooring do I need for a 20x14 room?

280 square feet of floor, and about 290 to order once the 3.3% this room actually cuts is added. That is 23 rows of 7.5 in plank across 167.4 in of usable width, five planks per row, and a 0.63 in offcut at the end of every run that the manufacturer's own rules make unusable.

What is the expansion gap for laminate flooring?

Pergo publishes it as a formula rather than a number: 1 mm per meter of floor width, with a minimum of 8 mm. Under about 26 ft wide the minimum governs and you leave 8 mm. Over that the formula takes over, so a 40 ft wide floor wants 12 mm. The same paragraph drops it to 5 mm in very dry regions and raises it to 10 mm in humid ones, before the width term is applied.

How much should laminate planks be staggered?

At least 30 cm between the end joints of adjacent rows, and the first and last panel in any row must be more than 20 cm long. Those two figures together decide whether the offcut from one row can start the next, which is where the usual ten percent waste rule quietly assumes its savings.

Is there a maximum size for a laminate floor?

Yes, and it is published. For standard residential conditions the maximum installation size is 13 m by 13 m, which is 42.7 ft. Past that a transition profile is mandatory. The limit applies to the connected surface rather than to one room, so an open plan running kitchen into dining into living can exceed it without any single room looking large.

Do I need a T-profile in every doorway?

The guide says yes, with an exception: if the total installed surface across all rooms is under 13 by 13 m, a profile is only needed in the bathroom or toilet doorway, provided the opening is at least 0.80 m wide and the laminate is 8 mm or thicker with a click connection. Irregular L, U or T-shaped rooms need one regardless.

How much does laminate flooring cost per square foot?

The source used here gives $1 to $4 for materials and $4 to $8 for labor, so $5 to $12 installed. Be careful comparing that with the same publisher's general flooring guide, which lists laminate at $4 to $20. Those are different numbers for the same material and the specific page is the one to use.

Does thicker laminate cost more?

Substantially. The source's own table runs from $0.70 to $1.00 per square foot at 6 mm up to $2.30 to $6.00 at 12 mm, so the thickest board can be six times the thinnest. Note that the 12 mm top of $6.00 sits outside the $1 to $4 material range on the same page.

Do LVP and LVT follow the same rules as laminate?

LVP is luxury vinyl plank and LVT is luxury vinyl tile. Pergo's rigid click vinyl guide sets the same 13 m by 13 m maximum for standard residential conditions and the same end joint stagger of more than 30 cm, with an 8 mm expansion gap stated as a fixed figure rather than the laminate guide's 1 mm per meter formula. The prices on this page are for laminate, not vinyl.

How much would it cost to lay laminate flooring in a 20x14 room?

At the source's $5 to $12 per square foot installed, the 280 square foot room comes to $1,400 to $3,360. Labor is $4 to $8 per square foot of that, so $1,120 to $2,240, and materials at $1 to $4 are $280 to $1,120. Price materials on the order quantity rather than the floor area, because the planks you buy include the cut allowance.

Is laminate flooring real wood?

No. It looks wooden, but laminate is a printed wood-look layer under a clear wear layer, bonded to a fiberboard core. Its installation rules come from the laminate maker, so the expansion gap, stagger and maximum floor size on this page are Pergo's laminate figures, not a solid wood flooring guide's.

Is laminate the same as linoleum?

No. Linoleum is made from linseed oil, cork or wood flour and resins on a jute or canvas backing, and it is glued down. Laminate is a printed layer over a fiberboard core that floats on an underlayment. The installation rules and prices on this page are for laminate only, and none of its sources prices linoleum.

How much does vinyl plank flooring cost compared to laminate?

HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $3 to $10 per square foot for luxury vinyl plank and $2 to $10 for luxury vinyl tile. This Old House's April 2026 article gives $5 to $12 per square foot for laminate installed. The two overlap, so the product chosen matters more than the category.

How much does it cost to install laminate flooring?

This Old House's April 2026 article gives $5 to $12 per square foot for laminate installed, with $4 to $8 of that labor and $1 to $4 materials. A 12 by 15 ft room is 180 sq ft, $900 to $2,160 installed. Laying laminate yourself removes the labor.

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Laminate Flooring Calculator

Layout rules quoted from Pergo Installation Guide, Version 07.2026

Laminate is the one floor on this site whose installation guide publishes a maximum size. Thirteen meters is forty-two feet, and an American open plan reaches that without anybody noticing.

Laminate flooring takeoff

Room length

Room width

Plank width (the face, from the box)

Plank length

Priced as (the source's own row labels)

Every minimum here is quoted from the Pergo Installation Guide for laminate, Version 07.2026. The quantities are computed from your room. The money is This Old House's published range, attributed below.

Specification summary

Generated from on . Reopen that address to reproduce these figures exactly.

Entered

Result

The offcut, and the stagger it has to clear

Laminate flooring prices, and the row that breaks its own range

Per sq ft unless the last column says otherwise
Item	Low	High	Unit
Materials	$1	$4	materials
Labor	$4	$8	labor
Installed total	$5	$12	materials and labor
6 mm board	$0.70	$1	materials
7 mm board	$0.90	$1	materials
8 mm board	$1	$1.80	materials
10 mm board	$2	$4	materials
12 mm board	$2.30	$6	materials
Underlayment	$30	$50	per 100 sq ft roll

Source: This Old House, laminate flooring installation cost. Last price check: September 9, 2026.

Internally consistent on the headline: 1 to 4 materials plus 4 to 8 labor is the 5 to 12 installed total, and that reproduces every row of the source's own size table. The thickness rows do not fit it. A 12 mm board is listed at 2.30 to 6.00, and 6.00 is half again the 4.00 top of the material range printed on the same page, so the thickest board on the list cannot be bought inside the range the page quotes.

Worked example

A 20 ft by 14 ft room in 7.5 in by 48 in laminate.

The gap is calculated, not looked up. Pergo publishes it as 1 mm per meter of floor width with a minimum of 8 mm. Fourteen feet is 4.3 m, so the formula gives 4.3 mm and the minimum wins: 8 mm, or 0.31 in, each side.
167.4 in of usable width divided by 7.5 gives 23 rows. The last is 2.37 in, over the 5 cm minimum, so the first row stays full width.
The offcut is 0.63 in and the document rules it out explicitly. Five planks cover 240 in of a 239.4 in run. Pergo says the first and last panel in a row must be more than 20 cm, and 0.63 in is not, so it is scrap rather than the start of row two.
Cut waste comes out at 3.3%, and this document publishes no allowance at all to compare it against. That is worth saying plainly: the only waste percentage in this trade with a source behind it is the hardwood one, and it belongs to a different manufacturer and a different product.
Now stretch the room to 50 ft by 40 ft. The gap goes to 12.2 mm, because at 12.2 m wide the formula finally beats the minimum. And the longer dimension passes 13 m, so a transition profile stops being optional.
At that size the waste falls to 0.2%. Bigger rooms waste proportionally less, which is the opposite of what a flat percentage assumes, and it is why a flat percentage is wrong at both ends.

Two numbers here have no equivalent anywhere else on this site: an expansion gap that changes with the room, and a floor that can be too big to lay in one piece.

The formula

The one piece of arithmetic on this page that no other flooring calculator does:

gap = max(8 mm, 1 mm × floor width in m)

8 mm: the published minimum, and the figure that governs every room under 8 m wide
1 mm per m: the rate, from the same sentence, which only starts to bite past 8 m
5 and 10 mm: the same paragraph substitutes these in very low and very high humidity regions, before the width term is applied

Under 26 ft wide the minimum wins and the formula is invisible, which is why almost nobody knows it exists. Over that, the spacers in the box are the wrong size, and the floor that buckles in year two was laid to a number somebody read off a different page.

What the price table on this page does and does not hold together

The headline is internally consistent, which is worth saying because the other flooring guides from the same publisher are not. Materials at $1 to $4 plus labor at $4 to $8 is the $5 to $12 installed total, and that reproduces every row of the source's own size table exactly: 200 sq ft at $1,000 to $2,400, 2,000 sq ft at $10,000 to $24,000.

The thickness rows do not fit inside it. A 12 mm board is listed at $2.30 to $6.00 per square foot, and $6.00 is half again the $4.00 top of the material range printed on the same page. The thickest board on the list cannot be bought within the range the page quotes for materials.

And a third figure appears on the publisher's general flooring guide. There, laminate is $4 to $20 per square foot. Set against $1 to $4 for materials and $5 to $12 installed, that is three different answers for one material from one publisher, and the general guide's is the outlier.

None of that is a reason to discard the figures. It is a reason to use the specific page rather than the general one, and to read the unit column before comparing two rows. This site publishes no price of its own, so the honest thing to do with a source is show its seams.

The last row has a minimum width, and it can cost you the first row too

Divide the room width by the plank width and you get a number of rows and a remainder. Every calculator stops there. The installation documents do not:

Check how many full rows of panels you will need by dividing the width of the room by the width of a panel. Mark reference points on the wall where you’ll be laying your first full row (row #2). The width of the first and last row should be at least 5 cm.

Quoted from Pergo, Installation Guide LAMINATE FLOORING, Version 07.2026. Read 2026-09-09.

The minimum is 1.97 in.

Pergo words it as a layout step rather than a warning: count the full rows first, mark row #2 on the wall, and let row #1 be whatever is left. The consequence is the same as the hardwood sheet spells out. If the leftover is under 5 cm you are ripping two rows, not one, and the second one was going to be a full board.

Note also which row is #1 here. The guide has you build rows #2 and #3 out in the room and fit the wall row last, because walls are not straight. That is why the edge row is scribed rather than measured, and why its width is a range rather than a number.

The expansion gap is a formula, not a quarter inch

Everyone knows to leave a gap at the wall. Almost nobody knows that one of these documents publishes it as a rate:

1 mm/m floor width with a minimum of 8mm. In regions with very low RH (e.g. Nordic countries), the clearance to the wall should be lowered to 5mm. In regions with high RH, the clearance should be certainly 10mm. Expansion gaps are mandatory on the entire perimeter of the floor, around all fixed and/or possible blocking objects, pipes.

Quoted from Pergo, Installation Guide LAMINATE FLOORING, Version 07.2026. Read 2026-09-09.

One millimeter per meter of floor width, minimum 8 mm. Under 8 m wide the minimum governs and the formula never bites, which is why most people never meet it. Over 8 m it does: a 12 m floor wants 12 mm and a 14 m floor wants 14, and the 8 mm spacer in the box is short.

The gap is also not a national constant. The same paragraph drops it to 5 mm in very low humidity regions and raises it to 10 mm in high ones, before the width term is applied at all.

Whether your offcut starts the next row is a published number

Laminate is sold on the promise that it clicks together with no skill and no waste. The second half of that is a layout constraint, and this guide states it in one sentence with two numbers in it:

The length of the first and last panel of a row should be more than 20 cm. Make sure to alternate your alignment so that end joints of panels in adjacent rows are never in line. There must be at least 30 cm between them.

Quoted from Pergo, Installation Guide LAMINATE FLOORING, Version 07.2026. Read 2026-09-09.

The stagger required here is 30 cm, which is 11.8 in. A row started with a piece of length c puts its first end joint c from the wall, beside a row whose joint is a full plank from the wall, so the stagger between them is the plank length minus c. The offcut is usable while that difference clears the minimum, and scrap when it does not.

Both bounds are published here, which is unusual. The 30 cm stagger caps how long the offcut may be; the 20 cm minimum first panel sets how short it may be. Between them the reusable window on a 48 in board runs from 7.9 in to 36.2 in, and an offcut outside it is scrap however tidy it looks on the floor.

The hardwood sheet from the other manufacturer on this site asks for 4 to 6 in instead of 30 cm, a factor of two to three on the same rule. Which one governs is decided by the box you bought.

There is a maximum floor size, and an open plan can exceed it

A floating floor is one connected sheet of material that expands and contracts as a unit. Past a certain size it has to be broken up with a transition profile, and the size is published:

For standard residential use (15-35°C), the maximum room size is 13mx13m. For rooms with more extreme temperatures (5-65°C), the maximum room size is 8mx8m. For rooms with HVAC-system (18-25°C), the maximum room size is 30mx30m. Larger rooms require additional expansion gaps and expansion profiles.

Quoted from Pergo, Installation instructions VINYL PLANKS & TILES (Rigid Click), Version 11.2025. Read 2026-09-09.

Maximum installation size, by the temperature range the floor will see
Condition	Published limit	In feet	Area
Standard residential, 15 to 35 C	13 m x 13 m	43 ft x 43 ft	1,819 sq ft
Extreme range, 5 to 65 C	8 m x 8 m	26 ft x 26 ft	689 sq ft
With an HVAC system, 18 to 25 C	30 m x 30 m	98 ft x 98 ft	9,688 sq ft

13 m is 42.7 ft. That is not an unusual dimension in an American open plan once the kitchen, dining and living run together, and the limit applies to the connected surface rather than to any one room. The laminate guide is stricter still: it makes a T-profile mandatory in every doorway, and in irregular L, U or T-shaped rooms, unless the whole installed area comes in under 13 x 13 m.

Intermediate T-profiles are mandatory when 1 or more of the following apply (respect the expansion gap on either side of the profile): irregular shaped rooms (eg. L, U, T-shaped rooms); there is floor heating and cooling with different heating zones (separate the zones); maximum installation size is exceeded; in every doorway.

Quoted from Pergo, Installation Guide LAMINATE FLOORING, Version 07.2026. Read 2026-09-09.

None of that is in a cost per square foot. It is transition profiles, and it is the reason a quote for one continuous floor and a quote with three doorway transitions are not the same job.

Where these figures came from

Read 2026-09-09. Three manufacturer installation documents, each carrying a document number or a version date:

Bruce (AHF Products), Engineered Hardwood installation instructions: document 210049. Covers 3/8, 7/16, 1/2 and 9/16 in (10, 11, 13 and 14 mm) engineered hardwood. Source of the 5% grading and cutting allowance, the 1 in minimum last row, the 4 to 6 in stagger and the 1/2 in expansion space.
Pergo, Installation Guide LAMINATE FLOORING: Version 07.2026. Source of the 1 mm per m expansion formula, the 5 cm minimum first and last row, the 20 cm minimum first and last panel, the 30 cm minimum end-joint stagger and the 13 x 13 m maximum installation size.
Pergo, Installation instructions VINYL PLANKS & TILES (Rigid Click): Version 11.2025. Source of the 8 mm expansion gap and the room-size limits that vary with temperature range: 13 x 13 m standard residential, 8 x 8 m at 5 to 65 C, 30 x 30 m with an HVAC system.

They are two manufacturers, and that is stated rather than hidden. Where they disagree, as they do on the stagger and on how the expansion gap is derived, this site prints both numbers instead of picking one. Your floor is governed by the document in your box, and if you still have it, that document beats every figure here.

Note which document governs a floating floor: it is the one for the product, not a building code, and it is enforced by the warranty rather than by an inspector. A floor laid past the published maximum size, or with a T-profile left out of a doorway, is still a legal floor. It is just no longer a guaranteed one.

Frequently asked questions

How much laminate flooring do I need for a 20x14 room?: 280 square feet of floor, and about 290 to order once the 3.3% this room actually cuts is added. That is 23 rows of 7.5 in plank across 167.4 in of usable width, five planks per row, and a 0.63 in offcut at the end of every run that the manufacturer's own rules make unusable.
What is the expansion gap for laminate flooring?: Pergo publishes it as a formula rather than a number: 1 mm per meter of floor width, with a minimum of 8 mm. Under about 26 ft wide the minimum governs and you leave 8 mm. Over that the formula takes over, so a 40 ft wide floor wants 12 mm. The same paragraph drops it to 5 mm in very dry regions and raises it to 10 mm in humid ones, before the width term is applied.
How much should laminate planks be staggered?: At least 30 cm between the end joints of adjacent rows, and the first and last panel in any row must be more than 20 cm long. Those two figures together decide whether the offcut from one row can start the next, which is where the usual ten percent waste rule quietly assumes its savings.
Is there a maximum size for a laminate floor?: Yes, and it is published. For standard residential conditions the maximum installation size is 13 m by 13 m, which is 42.7 ft. Past that a transition profile is mandatory. The limit applies to the connected surface rather than to one room, so an open plan running kitchen into dining into living can exceed it without any single room looking large.
Do I need a T-profile in every doorway?: The guide says yes, with an exception: if the total installed surface across all rooms is under 13 by 13 m, a profile is only needed in the bathroom or toilet doorway, provided the opening is at least 0.80 m wide and the laminate is 8 mm or thicker with a click connection. Irregular L, U or T-shaped rooms need one regardless.
How much does laminate flooring cost per square foot?: The source used here gives $1 to $4 for materials and $4 to $8 for labor, so $5 to $12 installed. Be careful comparing that with the same publisher's general flooring guide, which lists laminate at $4 to $20. Those are different numbers for the same material and the specific page is the one to use.
Does thicker laminate cost more?: Substantially. The source's own table runs from $0.70 to $1.00 per square foot at 6 mm up to $2.30 to $6.00 at 12 mm, so the thickest board can be six times the thinnest. Note that the 12 mm top of $6.00 sits outside the $1 to $4 material range on the same page.
Do LVP and LVT follow the same rules as laminate?: LVP is luxury vinyl plank and LVT is luxury vinyl tile. Pergo's rigid click vinyl guide sets the same 13 m by 13 m maximum for standard residential conditions and the same end joint stagger of more than 30 cm, with an 8 mm expansion gap stated as a fixed figure rather than the laminate guide's 1 mm per meter formula. The prices on this page are for laminate, not vinyl.
How much would it cost to lay laminate flooring in a 20x14 room?: At the source's $5 to $12 per square foot installed, the 280 square foot room comes to $1,400 to $3,360. Labor is $4 to $8 per square foot of that, so $1,120 to $2,240, and materials at $1 to $4 are $280 to $1,120. Price materials on the order quantity rather than the floor area, because the planks you buy include the cut allowance.
Is laminate flooring real wood?: No. It looks wooden, but laminate is a printed wood-look layer under a clear wear layer, bonded to a fiberboard core. Its installation rules come from the laminate maker, so the expansion gap, stagger and maximum floor size on this page are Pergo's laminate figures, not a solid wood flooring guide's.
Is laminate the same as linoleum?: No. Linoleum is made from linseed oil, cork or wood flour and resins on a jute or canvas backing, and it is glued down. Laminate is a printed layer over a fiberboard core that floats on an underlayment. The installation rules and prices on this page are for laminate only, and none of its sources prices linoleum.
How much does vinyl plank flooring cost compared to laminate?: HomeAdvisor's June 2026 guide gives $3 to $10 per square foot for luxury vinyl plank and $2 to $10 for luxury vinyl tile. This Old House's April 2026 article gives $5 to $12 per square foot for laminate installed. The two overlap, so the product chosen matters more than the category.
How much does it cost to install laminate flooring?: This Old House's April 2026 article gives $5 to $12 per square foot for laminate installed, with $4 to $8 of that labor and $1 to $4 materials. A 12 by 15 ft room is 180 sq ft, $900 to $2,160 installed. Laying laminate yourself removes the labor.

Check these numbers yourself

Pergo, Installation Guide LAMINATE FLOORINGVersion 07.2026, read 2026-09-09. Source of the 1 mm per m expansion formula and its 8 mm minimum, the 5 cm minimum first and last row, the 20 cm minimum first and last panel, the 30 cm minimum end-joint stagger, the 13 by 13 m maximum installation size and the T-profile conditions.
Pergo, Installation instructions VINYL PLANKS & TILES (Rigid Click)Version 11.2025, read 2026-09-09. Source of the room-size table that varies with temperature range: 13 by 13 m for standard residential, 8 by 8 m at 5 to 65 C, 30 by 30 m with an HVAC system.
This Old House, laminate flooring installation costWritten by Stephanie Minasian-Koncewicz, updated 1 April 2026, read 2026-09-09. Source of every dollar figure on this page.

How every figure here is verified: Sources & Method. Who builds this: Lucas Pradella, and the method is on About. Found something wrong? Tell us and it gets fixed or removed.

Figures on this page last checked against the source documents on 2026-09-09. Codes are amended locally; confirm against the edition your jurisdiction enforces.

Related calculators

Guides that use this calculator

How to Measure a Floor for Flooring or Carpet square footage answers it for planks and misses it for carpet

More of them: all guides.

The governing document is the one in your box. Every minimum on this page is quoted from Pergo, and other laminate makers publish different figures, notably on the stagger, where one hardwood manufacturer asks for 4 to 6 in against Pergo's 30 cm. There is no code table for any of it, so the manufacturer's instructions are the whole of the authority and the warranty is what is at stake rather than an inspection. No dollar figure on this page is this site's own.