What waste factor should I use for herringbone flooring?

20% is the common working figure for herringbone, against 10% for straight or plank layouts and around 15% for a diagonal. It is a starting rate rather than a rule: a small, cut-up room with several doorways justifies 22% to 25%, and a large open field laid by a crew who do herringbone regularly can come in nearer 15%.

How much extra flooring does herringbone need?

At the common rates, herringbone at 20% against straight plank at 10% is about 9% more material for the same floor. On a 200 sq ft room that is 20 extra square feet; on a 2,000 sq ft job it is roughly 200 extra square feet of hardwood, which is a real line in a real budget.

Why does herringbone waste more than straight plank?

Three reasons. Every run ends in an angled cut where it meets a wall, and because the angle is handed the offcut usually cannot start the next run. The field is set out from a centre line, so the pattern arrives at all four walls part way through a block. And every doorway, jog, hearth and chimney breast interrupts a pattern that only looks right when it runs unbroken.

Does the waste factor go on top of the measured area or come out of it?

On top. Order quantity is the measured area multiplied by one plus the waste factor, so a 20% factor on 200 sq ft is 240 sq ft ordered. Treating the 200 as though the waste were already inside it is the common mistake: a 200 sq ft order at 20% waste lays about 167 sq ft of floor, and the crew runs out with a sixth of the room left.

Should I add waste per room or across the whole job?

Per pattern, then add the patterns together. Waste belongs to the laying style, so a herringbone study and a straight-plank great room want different factors even when they take the same product. Applying one blended percentage across a mixed job under-orders the herringbone and over-orders the plank at the same time.

Free tool

Herringbone waste factor calculator

Q: Is the waste factor for chevron the same as herringbone?

On site it lands in the same place, around 20%, but the waste sits somewhere different. Chevron boards are mitred at the ends so the runs meet in a point, and they are usually bought as left-handed and right-handed pairs already cut, so part of the offcut is paid for at the mill instead of the job. Ordering the two hands in the wrong ratio is the expensive mistake, and no waste percentage protects you from it.

How much hardwood to order for a herringbone floor, and how much more that is than the same room in straight plank. Put in the area, pick the pattern, change the rate to whatever your own crew actually runs at.

Herringbone is commonly ordered at a 20% waste factor, against 10% for straight or plank layouts and around 15% for a diagonal. Order quantity is the measured area multiplied by one plus the waste factor, rounded up. The same 2,000 sq ft in herringbone rather than straight plank is roughly 200 extra square feet of hardwood.

The room

Floor area (sq ft)

Length (ft)

Width (ft)

Length × width fills the area for a rectangular room. For anything with an L, a bay or a chimney breast, work the area out by parts and type it in.

Laying pattern

Herringbone 20% Chevron 20% Diagonal 15% Straight / plank 10%

Waste factor (%)

Coverage per box (sq ft) optional

The pattern sets a starting rate. Type over it — the percentage is what the sum uses.

Order this much

240 sq ft

Measured floor area200 sq ft
Waste at 20%40 sq ft
Extra against straight plank at 10%20 sq ft
Whole boxes—

Measured area × (1 + waste), rounded up to a whole square foot. Boxes round up to a whole box. Nothing here is saved or sent anywhere.

Why herringbone wastes more than plank

A waste factor is not a fudge. It is a prediction about offcuts, and herringbone generates a different kind of offcut than a floating plank floor does.

The cuts at the walls are angled and handed. Every run of blocks ends where it meets the perimeter, and it ends on an angle. On a plank floor the tail of one row starts the next row, which is why a plank floor at 10% is mostly covering breakage and grading. In herringbone the offcut comes off at the wrong hand about half the time, so it goes in the bin rather than back into the field.

The field is set out from a centre line. Herringbone only looks right when the pattern is centred on the room or on the sightline through the door, which means the pattern arrives at all four walls part way through a block. You do not get to choose a starting point that makes the edges land cleanly.

Every interruption costs a run. Doorways, jogs, a hearth, a chimney breast, an island: each one breaks a pattern that reads as continuous, and each break is cut around rather than butted into.

When 20% is the wrong number

Twenty percent is a working default that has to survive contact with the actual room. Push it up when the room is small or cut about — under roughly 150 sq ft the perimeter is a large fraction of the floor, and 22% to 25% is more honest. Push it up again for a border or a feature strip, which is a second pattern with its own cutting, priced alongside the field rather than inside it.

You can come down towards 15% on a large, square, uninterrupted field laid by a crew who do herringbone every week. That is a decision to make with the installer who will do the work, not one to take from a table.

Order the whole job at once, from one run. A waste factor that leaves you two boxes short is expensive twice: once for the boxes, and once because the replacement comes from a later run and reads as a slightly different floor. This is the argument for rounding up rather than to the nearest box.

Herringbone and chevron are not the same cut

Both land near 20% on site, and the waste sits in different places. Herringbone is rectangular blocks laid at right angles to each other, so the pattern is made entirely on site with square-ended stock. Chevron is boards mitred at the ends so the runs meet in a point down the middle, and the blocks are usually bought as left-handed and right-handed pairs already cut at the mill.

That changes what the percentage is protecting you against. With chevron, part of the offcut has already been paid for in the price of the board, and the risk moves to the ratio: order the two hands unevenly and you have a pile of one hand and a shortage of the other, which no waste factor recovers.

A worked example

A 2,000 sq ft ground floor, all one white oak, laid herringbone through the hall and living space and straight plank in the bedrooms. Say 1,200 sq ft of herringbone and 800 sq ft of plank.

Herringbone: 1,200 × 1.20 = 1,440 sq ft
Plank: 800 × 1.10 = 880 sq ft
Order: 2,320 sq ft of the same product

One blended factor across the whole job would have missed it in both directions. At a flat 20% you order 2,400 sq ft and carry 80 sq ft you did not need; at a flat 10% you order 2,200 and arrive 120 sq ft short on the half of the job that could not absorb it. Waste belongs to the pattern, so the arithmetic has to happen per pattern and then add up.

This is one room. A job is forty of them.

The calculator above does the sum for one area at one rate. SquareTally does the same arithmetic across a whole plan set: you calibrate the architect's PDF by clicking the two ends of a dimension already printed on it, trace each room that gets a floor, and assign a product and a laying style to each one. The waste rate lives on the laying style, and you set it — every account starts at 0% until you put your own rates in.

From there the quantities group by product and pattern the way an order does rather than the way a room list does, get priced from your own vendor sheets, and go over as two draft estimates in your own QuickBooks Online — material, and a labor skeleton at $0 for you to price. Both arrive as drafts, and nothing reaches a client until you send it.

Herringbone waste, asked and answered

What waste factor should I use for herringbone?: 20% is the common working figure, against 10% for straight or plank and around 15% for a diagonal. It is a starting rate: a small, cut-up room with several doorways justifies 22% to 25%, and a large open field laid by a crew who do herringbone regularly can come in nearer 15%.
How much extra flooring does herringbone need?: At the common rates, 20% against 10% is about 9% more material for the same floor. On a 200 sq ft room that is 20 extra square feet; on a 2,000 sq ft job, roughly 200.
Why does herringbone waste more?: Every run ends in an angled cut at the wall, and because the angle is handed the offcut usually cannot start the next run. The field is set out from a centre line, so the pattern reaches all four walls part way through a block. And every doorway, jog and hearth interrupts a pattern that only reads correctly when it runs unbroken.
Is chevron the same as herringbone for waste?: It lands in the same place, around 20%, with the waste somewhere different. Chevron boards are mitred at the ends and usually bought as left- and right-handed pairs cut at the mill, so part of the offcut is paid for in the board price. The risk moves to ordering the two hands in the right ratio.
Does waste go on top of the area or come out of it?: On top. 20% on 200 sq ft is 240 sq ft ordered. Treating the 200 as though the waste were already inside it is the common mistake — a 200 sq ft order at 20% waste lays about 167 sq ft of floor.
Per room, or across the whole job?: Per pattern, then add the patterns together. A herringbone study and a straight-plank great room want different factors even when they take the same product, so one blended percentage under-orders one and over-orders the other at the same time.

Bring a plan set, we'll take it off

Twenty minutes on one of your own jobs. We calibrate it, trace the rooms, apply your waste rates per pattern and price it, live.

Request a demo

Prefer email? support@squaretally.com