How many boxes of tiles do I need? The sum, with wastage

Every week someone comes back to the showroom for "just two more boxes" and we have to tell them the batch has changed. The tile is the same, the shade is a touch different, and the difference shows exactly where the eye goes: in the middle of the floor. The fix is boring: buy the whole room at once, with wastage.

The sum

Measure the room in feet: length x width = area in sq ft. Every Drambay box covers 15.5 sq ft, both sizes. Divide the area by 15.5, add 7% for cutting and wastage, and round up to the next whole box.

Example: a 12 x 15 ft bedroom is 180 sq ft. 180 / 15.5 = 11.6 boxes. Add 7% = 12.4. Round up: 13 boxes. Every product page on this site has this calculator built in; type the area and it writes the box count into your WhatsApp message.

When to add more than 7%

Diagonal laying wastes more at the edges; use 10 to 12%. Bathrooms with a lot of cuts around fittings: 10%. Statuario or bookmatch designs where you want the veins to flow across the floor: 10%, because the tiler will reject pieces that break the pattern.

Walls: measure height x width for each wall, subtract doors and windows, add them up, then the same 7%.

Keep two or three pieces

After laying, keep two or three tiles from the same boxes in the store room. If a tile ever cracks, you have a shade-matched replacement. We say this to every customer and about half listen.

Why we dispatch one batch per order

Shade varies between batches in every factory in the world; it is the nature of fired clay and glaze. What a seller can control is whether your order comes from one batch. Drambay dispatches one batch per order and checks the shade before it leaves. That promise only works if the order is complete the first time, which brings us back to the 7%.

Questions we get asked

What if I over-order?

Unopened boxes in good condition can be discussed at the showroom. A spare box in the store room is cheaper than a mismatched patch.

Does the box count change between 2x4 and 2x2?

No. Both pack to 15.5 sq ft a box, so the count is the same; only the number of pieces changes.