Summary: Learn how to calculate wallpaper rolls needed, measure height of room, measure room width and calculating wallpaper rolls.
Often DIYers will have a rough guess at how many rolls of wallpaper they will need. This is not a good idea as you may purchase too much wallpaper, wasting both money and paper. Alternatively you may not purchase enough paper; this being problematic as it is a good idea to purchase wallpaper all from the same batch to avoid slight differences in colour.
Calculate wallpaper
When buying wallpaper, you do not need to guess. Fairly simple calculations can be made to find out how much you will need to complete the job with minimal waste.
When buying wallpaper, you do not need to guess. Fairly simple calculations can be made to find out how much you will need to complete the job with minimal waste.
- Firstly you will need to measure the height of each wall in the room and multiply it by the width. This will tell you the surface area that will be wallpapered.
Formula for calculating the surface area
Surface area = Height X Width - Next you need to determine the surface area of a single roll of the wallpaper you will be using. Again, do this using the same formula, multiplying the height by the width. A typical wallpaper roll is usually 0.52m (52cm) wide and 10m (1000cm) in length. If you are purchasing from a catalogue, you may need to give the company a call to confirm the measurements, if not included. If buying online, measurements should be included in the product details.
- Divide the surface area of the room by the surface area of the wallpaper to find out the number of rolls you will need.
Formula for calculating the number of wallpaper rolls
Number of rolls = Area (of wall) / Area (of wallpaper) - You will also need to consider the extra amount of paper required for complex wall corners, mistakes and the pattern on the wallpaper. Patterned wallpaper will require more paper as you will need to match up the patterns, which will involve overlapping etc. As a rule of thumb, add 10 percent extra wallpaper for small or subtle patterns (and for all other purposes) and 20 percent for bold patterns.
- Alternatively you can view the below PDF document. Once you know the height and width of the room, you can view the table which will tell you how many rolls of wallpaper you will need, depending if you are using the standard 52cm wide wallpaper or the wide width 68.5cm wallpaper.
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