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Herringbone Tile Calculator

The pattern that cuts the most, opened at the waste it really takes.

An estimate of quantities — the count is a division, not a cutting layout.

1' 6" · 18 in · 1.5 ft · 0.4572 m

10' · 120 in · 10 ft · 3.048 m

15 ft²

Inch Calculator advises about 10% for tile laid straight, which is where this starts; 15% for diagonal, and Alpine 10-15% for herringbone. Mullican advises 5% for wood laid straight. It is added once, to whatever gets cut — the tiles or the planks, and the baseboard. A grout or mortar figure, where the page has one, is worked out on the surface as laid.

This page recalculates as you type. There is no Calculate button.

Answer

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Buy

17 tiles

15 ft² to tile · 17 tiles · 2 boxes

Boxes 2 × box of 16
Area to tile 15 ft²
Ticked items cost $84.00
More numbers
With the 10% for cuts 16.5 ft²
Grout 1.34 lb
Thinset 1 bags
DrawingThe project drawn to scale. Area 1: 1' 6" × 10'.1' 6"10'Area 1

Buying noteHerringbone cuts more than any other pattern. Alpine Floor advises 10-15%, up to 20% in a complicated room, and the figure in the assumptions below is 15%; your waste box is at 10%.
Buying noteLarge tile wants mortar on the back of the tile as well as on the floor. Lift the first one back up and look at how much of it is covered before you set the rest.
Buying noteAt 1/8" buy sanded grout: unsanded is for joints under 1/8 in, and it cracks in a wider one. Our yield figure comes off the sanded chart, so this is the case it was worked out for.
Buying noteBuy the spare box with the rest, out of the same dye lot. A box bought a month later is a slightly different color, and nobody tells you until it is on the floor.

Breakdown

Surface Measurements Qty Area Share
Area 1 1' 6" × 10' Add ×1 15 ft²

What to buy

Buying noteHerringbone cuts more than any other pattern. Alpine Floor advises 10-15%, up to 20% in a complicated room, and the figure in the assumptions below is 15%; your waste box is at 10%.
Buying noteLarge tile wants mortar on the back of the tile as well as on the floor. Lift the first one back up and look at how much of it is covered before you set the rest.
Buying noteAt 1/8" buy sanded grout: unsanded is for joints under 1/8 in, and it cracks in a wider one. Our yield figure comes off the sanded chart, so this is the case it was worked out for.
Buying noteBuy the spare box with the rest, out of the same dye lot. A box bought a month later is a slightly different color, and nobody tells you until it is on the floor.

Shopping list

2 2 × box of 16 $59.00 Reference price $23.50. Type your store's. Reference price $31.00. Type your store's. Reference price $29.50. Type your store's. Reference price $30.00. Type your store's. Reference price $33.00. Type your store's. Reference price $28.00. Type your store's. Reference price $26.00. Type your store's. Reference price $42.00. Type your store's.
1 1 × 10 lb bag $14.00 Reference price $24.00. Type your store's. Reference price $14.00. Type your store's.
1 1 × 25 lb bag $11.00 Reference price $17.00. Type your store's. Reference price $11.00. Type your store's.
Ticked items $84.00

Untick what you already have. Each row has its price beside it — type what your store charges.

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Standards

We hold the criteria and the clause, not the wording of the standard.

Not checked ANSI A108.02 · minimum joint width, as CTEF reads §4.3.8

A 1/8" joint clears the 1/16" minimum, which is as far as a measurement gets. The clause also asks for three times how much the tiles vary across their faces — lay a few out dry and look before you commit to the spacers.

Not checked ANSI A108.02 · large format minimum joint, as CTEF reads §4.3.8.1

A 1/8" joint is the minimum for rectified tile and under the 3/16" a calibrated tile needs. Which one you have is printed on the box — no measurement here can tell us.

Not checked ANSI A108.02 · mortar contact, as CTEF reads A108.02

This project tiles a wall, so the standard asks for 95% of the back of each tile in contact with mortar, against 80% in a dry area. It is measured by lifting a set tile back off — nothing on this page can judge it.

How this was worked out

Every number below is yours. Each constant links to the row where you can change it.

Area 1 1' 6" × 10' 15 ft²
With the waste for cuts 15 ft² × (1 + 10%) 16.5 ft²
One tile and its joint (6 in + 1/8") × (24 in + 1/8") ÷ 144 in²/ft² 1.0262 ft²
Tiles to buy 16.5 ft² ÷ 1.0262 ft² 17 tiles
Boxes to buy 17 tiles ÷ 16 tiles 2 × box of 16 · 15 tiles left over
Grout 15 ft² × 1.3761 in³/ft² (1/8" joints, 3/8" deep) × 0.0648 lb/in³ 1.34 lb → 1 × 10 lb bag

Change:Tile thickness, floor tileGrout in a cubic inch

Thinset 15 ft² ÷ 60 ft²/bag 1 bags → 1 × 25 lb bag

Change:Thinset coverage, 1/4 × 3/8 notchBag the coverage is published for

What it comes to 2 × $29.50 + 1 × $14.00 + 1 × $11.00 $84.00

Assumptions

Every one of these is editable. Change one and the answer changes with it.

Assumption Value Confidence
Tile thickness, floor tile3/8 in, the nominal body thickness of porcelain floor tile 12 in and larger, and the thickness Custom Building Products' coverage chart lists a 12 x 24 at. Grout sits as deep as the tile is thick, so this number scales the grout straight; measure yours and type it. ~ in Derived or single-supplier
Grout in a cubic inch25 lb of grout fills about 386 in³ of joint, worked back out of 30 cells of Custom Building Products' Polyblend Plus Sanded coverage chart. A bag holds one volume whatever tile it goes into, so this is a density rather than a per-size figure. ~ lb/in³ Derived or single-supplier
Thinset coverage, 1/4 × 3/8 notch60 to 67 ft² a 50 lb bag with a 1/4 × 3/8 in square-notch trowel (TDS-119), the commonest notch for a 12 in and larger floor tile. The low end is the figure here. ft²/bag From a data sheet or an agency document
Bag the coverage is published forThe bag the coverage figures below are published for. Custom Building Products' TDS-119 states VersaBond coverage per 50 lb bag, so a 25 lb bag covers half as much: coverage scales with weight, and the page solves the order in pounds rather than in bags for that reason. lb/bag From a data sheet or an agency document
Minimum joint1/16 in, the smallest grout joint ANSI A108.02 allows, and never less than three times the tile's facial dimension variation. Read in the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation's article on the clause, not in the standard itself - ANSI charges for the text. in From a data sheet or an agency document
Minimum joint, rectified large format1/8 in, the smallest joint for rectified tile with an edge over 15 in. A rectified tile is ground to size after firing, so its edges are square enough for a narrow joint; a calibrated one is not. in From a data sheet or an agency document
Minimum joint, calibrated large format3/16 in, the smallest joint for calibrated tile with an edge over 15 in. Whether a box holds rectified or calibrated tile is printed on the box and is not something any measurement on this page can say, which is why the check that reads this number never passes on its own. in From a data sheet or an agency document
Edge at which large format starts15 in: above this edge length the minimum joint stops being 1/16 in and becomes 1/8 or 3/16 in depending on how the tile was made. A 12 x 24 is over it on one side, a 12 x 12 is not. in From a data sheet or an agency document
Mortar contact, dry area80% of the back of the tile has to be in contact with mortar in a dry area. It is measured by lifting a set tile back up, not by any number on this page, so the page says the figure rather than judging it. Held as a percentage because that is how it is read and how the box shows it. % From a data sheet or an agency document
Mortar contact, wet area95% mortar contact in a wet area - a shower, a tub surround - and outdoors. The higher figure is why a shower wall project is told a different sentence from a kitchen floor. Held as a percentage because that is how it is read and how the box shows it. % From a data sheet or an agency document

Tile for a herringbone floor

Herringbone is two rectangles meeting at a right angle, repeated. It needs a rectangular tile — a square one cannot make the pattern, and the page says so if you pick one — and it is laid at 45 degrees to the walls, which is where the waste comes from.

This page opens on a 10 by 12 foot floor in 6 by 24 inch plank tile at 15% waste: 120 square feet, 138 after the waste, which is 138 tiles and 9 boxes of 16.

Why it opens at 15 per cent

Because that is what Alpine Floor advises for the pattern, and because every tile at the perimeter of a herringbone field is cut on the diagonal. A diagonal offcut is a triangle, and the triangle left over from one edge tile does not fit the next one — so unlike a straight lay, almost nothing gets reused. Alpine's range is 10 to 15%, up to 20% in a complicated room, and this page starts at the top of the plain range.

Layout Waste advised
Straight10% tile, 5% wood
Diagonal15% (Inch: 15–20%)
Herringbone15% (Alpine: 10–15%, 20% complex)

The box is yours. Change the layout and the page names the figure its source advises and leaves your number alone — it will not quietly move a value you typed. A room with bays, a hearth and a doorway in every wall deserves the 20%.

Which tile the pattern wants

A 2:1 tile — 6 by 12, 6 by 24, 4 by 12 — makes the classic herringbone, two tiles making a square. A 3:1 or longer gives a stretched version that reads more like a chevron field. What does not work is a square: 12 by 12 laid herringbone is just 12 by 12 laid diagonally, and the page warns rather than pretending otherwise.

Chevron is not this pattern. Chevron tile is cut at an angle on the ends so the planks meet point to point, and it is sold as chevron tile rather than laid that way — if that is what you have, count it as a straight lay and take the waste figure from the maker.

Grout and mortar are the same job

Herringbone does not change the grout: the joints are the same width and the same depth, and there is the same length of them per square foot whichever way the tiles point. The mortar is the same too. What changes is the cutting, and that is the waste box.