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Subway Tile Calculator

Hundreds of small tiles, counted properly.

An estimate of quantities — a stacked or offset bond changes the cuts, not the count.

4' · 48 in · 4 ft · 1.2192 m

12' · 144 in · 12 ft · 3.6576 m

48 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

398 tiles

48 ft² to tile · 398 tiles · 4 boxes

Boxes 4 × box of 100
Area to tile 48 ft²
Ticked items cost $143.00
More numbers
With the 10% for cuts 52.8 ft²
Grout 8.34 lb
Thinset 1 bags
DrawingThe project drawn to scale. Area 1: 4' × 12'.4'12'Area 1

Buying noteA 3 × 6 in subway tile has a lot of joint for its area, and our grout figure runs over the maker's chart down there — a few per cent at 4 inches, as much as about 20% at a 1 inch mosaic. Over, not under, which is the safe side for a shopping list.
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 4' × 12' Add ×1 48 ft²

What to buy

Buying noteA 3 × 6 in subway tile has a lot of joint for its area, and our grout figure runs over the maker's chart down there — a few per cent at 4 inches, as much as about 20% at a 1 inch mosaic. Over, not under, which is the safe side for a shopping list.
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

4 4 × box of 100 $112.00 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 × 50 lb bag $17.00 Reference price $17.00. Type your store's. Reference price $11.00. Type your store's.
Ticked items $143.00

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 · 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 4' × 12' 48 ft²
With the waste for cuts 48 ft² × (1 + 10%) 52.8 ft²
One tile and its joint (3 in + 1/8") × (6 in + 1/8") ÷ 144 in²/ft² 0.1329 ft²
Tiles to buy 52.8 ft² ÷ 0.1329 ft² 398 tiles
Boxes to buy 398 tiles ÷ 100 tiles 4 × box of 100 · 2 tiles left over
Grout 48 ft² × 2.6816 in³/ft² (1/8" joints, 5/16" deep) × 0.0648 lb/in³ 8.34 lb → 1 × 10 lb bag

Change:Tile thickness, wall tileGrout in a cubic inch

Thinset 48 ft² ÷ 90 ft²/bag 1 bags → 1 × 50 lb bag

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

What it comes to 4 × $28.00 + 1 × $14.00 + 1 × $17.00 $143.00

Assumptions

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

Assumption Value Confidence
Tile thickness, wall tile5/16 in, glazed ceramic wall tile - subway and 4 1/4 in field tile, which are thinner than porcelain floor tile. Interpolated between the 3/8 in floor figure and the 1/4 in mosaic one rather than read off a data sheet. ~ 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 × 1/4 notchA 50 lb bag of VersaBond covers 90 to 100 ft² with a 1/4 × 1/4 in square-notch trowel (TDS-119). The low end is the figure here: the high end buys short. 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
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

How many subway tiles

Subway tile is 3 by 6 inches, so there are a great many of them in a small area and the count is the whole question. This page opens on a 4 foot band up a 12 foot kitchen wall — 48 square feet, which at 1/8 inch joints is 400 tiles and 4 boxes of 100.

One tile with its joint round it covers 3.125 by 6.125 inches, which is 0.1329 square feet. At this size the joint is a real fraction of the tile: going from 1/16 inch joints to 1/4 inch takes the same wall from 414 tiles to 375. That is a box either way, and it is why the joint is a select rather than an assumption.

By the square foot

Joint Tiles per ft²
1/16 in7.73
1/8 in7.52
3/16 in7.33
1/4 in7.14

Multiply your area by the row you are using, add the waste, and that is the count. The page does it for you and shows the arithmetic underneath.

Bond pattern changes the cuts, not the count

A running bond offset by half a tile, the classic subway look, needs a cut at each end of every other course — and the offcut from one end starts the next course, so it mostly comes out even. A third-offset or a stacked bond behaves much the same. What changes the count is the waste you allow, not the pattern, and 10% covers a straightforward wall.

Herringbone is the exception, and it is a different page: laid at 45 degrees every tile at the edge is cut on the diagonal and nothing is reusable, which is why the figure there is 15%.

Grout, and the color decision

At 1/8 inch joints a 48 square foot wall takes about four pounds of grout — one small bag. Subway tile is usually grouted in a contrasting color, and that is the one choice on this page that will be visible from across the room for twenty years. Gray grout on white tile draws every joint; white grout makes the wall read as a surface. Neither is more correct, but buy enough of whichever it is in one go, from the same dye lot: a second bag mixed a month later will not match.