Construction Calculators

Material quantities and measurements for building, flooring, painting and home projects.

Most material estimates follow one pattern: measure the area, multiply by the depth to get a volume, then turn that volume into a weight, a number of bags or a cost. The concrete calculator, gravel calculator, sand calculator, soil calculator, mulch calculator and asphalt calculator all work this way, so what changes from one to the next is the density of the material and the way it is sold.

Surface jobs use area instead. Start with the square footage calculator for the size of a room, then the tile calculator for tiles and the paint calculator for gallons. The brick calculator counts bricks and mortar for a wall, the tank volume calculator gives the capacity of a tank, and the metal weight calculator gives the mass of metal stock by shape. Order a little more than the result, because cutting, spillage and uneven ground always use up extra material.

Popular construction calculators

• Concrete CalculatorVolume, weight and bag count for the pour you choose.
• Paint CalculatorGallons or litres for a room or exterior, minus windows and doors.
• Tile CalculatorTiles to order, allowing for gaps between tiles and waste.
• Square Footage CalculatorRoom area in square feet or other units, L-shaped rooms included.

All construction calculators

• Asphalt CalculatorEnter the width, length and compacted depth of the area to pave, and the calculator returns the volume of asphalt and its weight in tons or tonnes. Add a price per ton to get the cost.
• Brick CalculatorEnter the wall's length and height, say whether it is one brick or half a brick thick, and give the size of your brick and the mortar joint. You get the brick count, wall volume and mortar estimate.
• Concrete CalculatorChoose what you are pouring, enter its dimensions in any mix of units, and see how much concrete it takes as a volume, a weight and a bag count. Add a price and the same figures become a cost estimate.
• Gravel CalculatorMeasure the area you want to cover and the depth of the layer, and the calculator returns the volume of gravel, how much it weighs and, with a price per ton, what it will cost.
• Metal Weight CalculatorPick a shape, a metal and the dimensions, and the calculator gives the mass of one piece and of the whole order in kilograms and grams, or in pounds and ounces.
• Mulch CalculatorMeasure the bed, choose how deep the mulch should be, and the calculator shows the volume you need. Tell it the bag size and it counts the bags and prices them against a bulk delivery.
• Paint CalculatorWork out how much paint a room or a house exterior needs. The calculator subtracts windows and doors from the wall area, multiplies by the number of coats and rounds up to whole gallons or litres.
• Sand CalculatorEnter the size of the area and how deep the sand should be. You get the volume, the weight and, if you add a price per ton, the cost of the delivery.
• Square Footage CalculatorType in the width and length of a room, or of the two sections of an L-shaped one, and get its area in square feet or any other unit. Add a price per square unit to see what flooring, paint or tile would cost.
• Tank Volume CalculatorPick the tank shape, enter its inside dimensions and read off the capacity in cubic metres, cubic feet, litres, US and UK gallons and barrels. Add a filled height to find how much liquid is in the tank right now.
• Tile CalculatorEnter the size of the area, the size of one tile, the gap between tiles and a waste allowance to get the number of tiles to order. Add a box size and price to see boxes and cost.
• Topsoil CalculatorEnter the width, length and depth of the area to see how much topsoil it takes in cubic yards or cubic metres, roughly what it weighs and, once you add a bag size and a price, how many bags to buy and what they cost.