Find a tool

Shower Tile Calculator

Each wall its own height — and the wet-area figure nobody else mentions.

An estimate of quantities — waterproofing and the pan are not counted here.

8' · 96 in · 8 ft · 2.4384 m

5' · 60 in · 5 ft · 1.524 m

80 ft²

Area 2 · 8' × 3' · Add ×124 ft²

8' · 96 in · 8 ft · 2.4384 m

3' · 36 in · 3 ft · 0.9144 m

24 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

Save imageExcel

Buy

57 tiles

104 ft² to tile · 57 tiles · 8 boxes

Boxes 8 × box of 8
Area to tile 104 ft²
Ticked items cost $296.00
More numbers
With the 10% for cuts 114.4 ft²
Grout 5.62 lb
Thinset 2 bags
DrawingThe project drawn to scale. Area 1: 8' × 5'; Area 2: 8' × 3'.8'5'Area 18'3'Area 2

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 8' × 5' Add ×2 80 ft²
Area 2 8' × 3' Add ×1 24 ft²

What to buy

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

8 8 × box of 8 $248.00 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.
2 2 × 50 lb bag $34.00 Reference price $17.00. Type your store's. Reference price $11.00. Type your store's.
Ticked items $296.00

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

Save imageExcel

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 8' × 5' × 2 80 ft²
Area 2 8' × 3' 24 ft²
With the waste for cuts 104 ft² × (1 + 10%) 114.4 ft²
One tile and its joint (12 in + 1/8") × (24 in + 1/8") ÷ 144 in²/ft² 2.0314 ft²
Tiles to buy 114.4 ft² ÷ 2.0314 ft² 57 tiles
Boxes to buy 57 tiles ÷ 8 tiles 8 × box of 8 · 7 tiles left over
Grout 104 ft² × 0.8336 in³/ft² (1/8" joints, 3/8" deep) × 0.0648 lb/in³ 5.62 lb → 1 × 10 lb bag

Change:Tile thickness, floor tileGrout in a cubic inch

Thinset 104 ft² ÷ 60 ft²/bag 2 bags → 2 × 50 lb bag

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

What it comes to 8 × $31.00 + 1 × $14.00 + 2 × $17.00 $296.00

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 shower, wall by wall

A shower is three walls, and they are not the same size. The plumbing wall usually goes to the ceiling; the two side walls often stop lower; a niche is a hole in one of them and a bench is a lump on the floor. So this page measures the walls one at a time, which is how a tiler measures them.

It opens on a 5 by 3 foot stall with 8 feet of tile, written the way you would count it: two walls of 8 by 5 feet — one part with a quantity of two — and one of 8 by 3. That is 104 square feet, which in 12 by 24 inch tile at 1/8 inch joints is 52 tiles and 7 boxes of 8.

Add a part for each surface

Each wall that differs is its own part, with its own height; walls that match are one part with a quantity. A niche is a part with the minus sign if you are tiling round it and a part with the plus sign for its inside faces — a 14 by 20 inch niche with 4 inch returns is about four square feet of extra tile, which is most of a box. The shower floor is a part of its own too, usually in mosaic, because a floor has to slope to the drain and only small tile can follow a slope in two directions.

The 95 per cent

This is the one number worth taking away from this page. The installation standard asks for 80% of the back of each tile in contact with mortar in a dry area, and 95% in a wet one. A shower is a wet one.

Voids behind shower tile are where water collects, and water that collects behind tile comes out somewhere else. The only way to know your coverage is to set a tile, lift it straight back off and look at the back of it — so the standards panel below states the figure and asks you to check it rather than telling you that you passed. No arrangement of the numbers on this page could know.

Because the walls are marked as walls, the page states the wet figure without being told to, and it leaves the baseboard row out.

What this page does not include

Waterproofing, the pan or the curb. A shower is a waterproofing job with tile on it, and the membrane, the pre-slope, the drain assembly and the seat framing are all decisions made before the first tile goes up. This page counts the tile, the grout and the mortar — the part a square footage can answer.