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Tile, trim & finishes

Tile Layout Planner

Before you snap a line: see whether a tile or a grout joint belongs on the centreline, and how big the cuts at the walls come out, in both directions.

Room
Units
in
in
Wall to wall, where the tile will meet the wall. Inches, or feet and inches like 7' 10 1/2". For a wall, use its width and height.
in
Space left empty between the last tile and the wall. Leave this blank and the cut is measured right to the wall; enter 0 to confirm no gap will be left. Daltile's installation guides leave 1/4 in (about 6 mm); use the figure in your own tile and setting-material instructions. A gap can change how many tiles fit, so enter it here instead of subtracting it from the result.
Tile and joint
Tile shape
in
in
Measure one of your tiles edge to edge. To turn a rectangular tile the other way, swap its two sizes.
% of a tile
A cut narrower than this is flagged. 50 is the half-tile guidance of ANSI A108.02 as quoted by the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation, and of Daltile's guides (see Sources on How it works); change it for a stricter or looser test.
Layout
Enter your room and tile
Cut at the walls, width · length
Start line across the width: centre of the first joint
Start line along the length: centre of the first joint
Pieces per row × rows
Full tiles in the layout
Cut tiles in the layout
Plan of the room. Shaded tiles are cut. Dashed lines are the room centrelines (CL). A solid line marked start is the line to snap when a tile sits on the centreline: it is the centre of the first joint, not a tile edge.

    Cuts are measured to the wall, or to the gap if you entered one: no grout joint is assumed at the wall. Straight grid layout in a square-cornered room only. The piece counts are what the layout contains, not how many tiles to buy.

    Based on: Ceramic Tile Education Foundation · Tested against 14 worked examples, all worked by hand · How this is worked out →

    Common cases

    Questions people ask

    Should I start tiling from the centre with a tile or with a grout line?
    Use whichever leaves the larger cut at the walls. The two layouts differ by half a tile plus half a joint, so when one leaves a narrow strip the other leaves at least half a tile, or no cut at all. It can be different for the width and the length of the same room, which is why this tool works out both.
    How small a cut is too small?
    The Ceramic Tile Education Foundation quotes ANSI A108.02 section 4.3.2 as saying that cuts smaller than half a tile should usually be avoided. Daltile’s floor and wall guides use the same test: cuts smaller than half a tile mean the layout should be shifted. This tool flags cuts under 50% of a tile by default and lets you change that figure.
    What do I do if the layout leaves a sliver at the wall?
    Daltile’s guides say to snap a new line half a tile closer to the wall. In effect that turns a layout with a joint on the centreline into one with a tile on it, or the reverse, which is the other option shown here. This tool works the shift out as half a tile plus half a joint, so that the line is again the centre of a joint.
    Does the calculator leave a gap at the walls?
    Not unless you enter one. By default the cut tile is measured right to the wall and no grout joint is assumed there. Daltile’s guides fit the perimeter tiles leaving a 1/4 inch gap between tile and wall. Enter the gap your own instructions call for instead of subtracting it from the result: usually each cut is narrower by the gap, but a gap can also change how many tiles fit, turn a row of full tiles into one with cuts, or move the better start from a tile to a joint.
    Does this work for brick, herringbone or diagonal layouts?
    No. It covers a straight grid with joints lined up both ways in a rectangular room with square corners. Offset and diagonal patterns, rooms that are out of square, and how many tiles to buy are outside what it calculates.