Calculating skirting board requirements and offcuts: How to determine the right quantity
The desired skirting boards for the room have been selected. Now comes the next step: calculate the offcut and requirement of skirting boards. This seems very simple at first glance, but the devil is in the details.
To calculate the amount and waste skirting boards require care and prudence. It is essential to measure the room very accurately and take into account wall interruptions. After all, who wants to produce unnecessary skirting waste or even put them on the wall as a denomination?! How amateur craftsmen can quickly and easily calculate the required amount of skirting without skirting calculator, read here.
Calculate skirting boards: Is there a formula for calculating skirting boards?
The calculation of skirting boards is not difficult in itself. Sometimes the only difficult thing is to accurately measure the room and properly take into account all the interruptions in the wall. This counts for doors and floor-to-ceiling windows as well as for projections and bay windows. In order for the craftsman to calculate the amount of skirting and thus roughly calculate the skirting waste, he needs the room perimeter. A rough rule of thumb when calculating baseboards states:
Room size in m² = length of skirting boards plus 10%
Example baseboards calculate with formula:
- Room size 4 x 5 m= 20 m²
- Minimum quantity of skirting board length 20 m
- Calculate skirting board waste + 10 % = 22 m skirting boards
The amount of waste skirting boards depends very much on the room. Long walls with few interruptions and angles produce only a small amount of waste.
Calculate skirting boards: What to pay attention to?
If you want to calculate the right amount of baseboards, you should have the following aspects in mind:
- Inclusion of all wall interruptions such as doors, heating pipes, floor-to-ceiling windows, irregularities in the course of the wall, etc.
- allow for a measurement error tolerance despite accurate measurement
- Skirting boards from the trade may have a small length deviation according to DIN, i.e. an offered skirting board of 2.50m may in reality be 2.49m or 2.51m long
- in case of very angled rooms the skirting board waste is higher
Calculate the correct number of skirting boards: An example of how to determine the right quantity
Whether using skirting calculator or completely by yourself: If you were able to calculate the required running meters of skirting boards, now comes the next step: the correct quantity must be determined.
Again, this does not require a baseboard calculator, but only a piece of paper and pen, smartphone or calculator.
Here is an example for calculating the number of skirting boards:
- Total length is 21.12 linear meters
- Skirting board in stores has 2.50 meters per skirting board
You can calculate the baseboard quantity with this simple formula:
21.12 meters / 2.50 meters = 8.45 baseboards
Since there are no 8.45 baseboards in stores, the number is rounded up to 9 baseboards.
But you should not forget the number of cut edges and thus the skirting board waste when determining the skirting board requirement. In order to plan for the skirting board waste, it basically helps to add 10% as a lump sum. In the above example to calculate the skirting board requirement, this would be one more skirting board.
Calculate skirting board waste and keep it small: How can you reduce the skirting board waste?
You probably want to calculate the number of skirting boards as accurately as possible to keep the excess material as small as possible. Theoretically, this is possible with the baseboard calculator, but practice shows: unexpected things often happen.
For this reason, professionals would never calculate the exact skirting board waste, but include a tolerance when calculating the skirting boards.
In order to keep the skirting board waste as small as possible, there is only one possibility: The skirting board waste is used to apply it to the wall in pieces. However, such a use of the waste does not look aesthetically pleasing. It is therefore better to calculate a skirting board waste.
Generously calculate baseboards and save time and money
The amount of running meters of baseboard should fit the room. For this purpose, it is advisable to calculate the required amount of skirting boards. Since there is always waste, the calculation should be generous. In this way, time-consuming and costly replenishment of the skirting will be prevented afterwards. And if whole skirting should remain, then it is possible to return them to the hardware store or set aside for the next project.