Wallpaper calculator in yards.
Wide goods, cut in drops, ordered by the yard.
Trade wallcovering is sold by the linear yard at 36, 45 or 54 inches wide, and the mill calculators divide wall area by that width. A wall is not covered by area but by drops, each cut to height plus trim. This page cuts the drops, sums the yards, tries hanging the goods sideways, and prints the area figure beside the result.
02 / Strips on the wall
03 / Order
- Strips
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- Longest cut
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- Cut total
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- Exact yardage
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- Area ÷ width
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- With 10 % added
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- Lost to the repeat
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- Wall area
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Area ÷ width is what the mill calculators return. The yardage above is the sum of the cuts.
Vertical or railroaded
| Hanging | Strips | Longest cut | Seams | Cut total | Yards | Select |
|---|
Three widths on the same walls
| Width | Strips | Seams | Cut total | Yards | Area ÷ width |
|---|
Wider goods take fewer drops and fewer seams but waste more when a wall is narrower than a whole number of widths. The table lets the width be chosen on the walls at hand rather than on a rule.
Each wall and each strip
| Wall | Size | Strips | Cut each | Cut total | Yards |
|---|
| Strip | Wall | Across | Cut | Yards |
|---|
Select a strip to read its cut. Trim is added to every strip; the repeat rounds the cut when a match is chosen.
Thirty yards by area, thirty-five by drops
The example room has a 40-foot perimeter and 10-foot walls, 400 square feet, covered in 54-inch goods with a 4-inch trim allowance. The area method divides 400 square feet by 4.5 feet of width: 88.9 feet, 29.6 yards, rounded to 30. That is the figure one mill calculator returned for these inputs. The drops say otherwise: a 12-foot wall takes three drops of 54 inches, an 8-foot wall two, ten drops in all, each cut to 124 inches. Ten drops of 124 inches are 1,240 inches, 34.4 yards, 35 to order. The five extra yards are the trim on ten drops and the 18 inches of width the last drop of each wall does not use.
Add the 10 percent the vendors advise on top of their 30 and the order is 33, still two yards short of the cut list. Add it on top of 35 and it is 38.5, which is a cushion, not a correction. The ledger prints both so the buyer knows which one is being ordered.
Railroading the same room
Turned sideways, 54-inch goods cover a 10-foot wall in three horizontal strips, each cut to the wall width plus trim: 148 inches on the 12-foot walls, 100 on the 8-foot walls. Twelve strips, 1,488 inches, 42 yards, eight seams instead of six. Railroading loses here. It wins on a long, low wall: 20 feet by 8 feet vertical is five drops and four seams, railroaded two strips and one seam, at 14 yards either way. The comparison table runs both on whatever walls are entered.
Widths and formats publishers state
| Publisher | Format stated |
|---|---|
| York Wallcoverings | 1 bolt = 56 ft², 20.5 in × 33 ft; 1 bolt covers about 6 ft of wall up to 9-ft ceilings; deduct 1 bolt for every 4 ordinary doors or windows |
| Wallpaper Direct (US page) | 'Estimates are based on a standard roll size of 52 cm × 10 m' |
| Painted Paper | rolls 24 in W × 13 ft L or 24 in W × 27 ft L; 8.5 × 10 in sample; 24 × 36 in preview panel; product repeats seen: 24 in (Odette Arboretum, Luca Bloom) and 48 in ('this pattern needs at least 2 rolls'); on-page estimator with roll size choice and height limit 31 ft 2 in |
| Phillip Jeffries | sold by the linear yard; roll widths 36, 45 and 54 in selectable; results rounded up to the next whole yard; 10 % more recommended |
| Schumacher | Deux Par Deux Ground 5000640: roll width 36 in, 4 yards per roll, coverage 36 sq ft, random match, order minimum 144 in × 36 in (one roll); item 5000670: 36 in, 4.5 yards, 40.5 sq ft; no calculator published |
Phillip Jeffries lists 36, 45 and 54 inches and rounds to the next whole yard; Carnegie offers widths from 36 to 118 inches. Both divide area by width. Executed with 100 square feet registered, the Phillip Jeffries tool returned 12 linear yards at 36 inches and 8 at 54, with 10 percent more advised; its terms add that overage is not returnable. Take those 100 square feet as a wall 12½ feet wide and 8 feet high: at 54 inches it is three drops of 100 inches with a 4-inch trim, 300 inches, 9 yards against the 8; at 36 inches five drops, 500 inches, 14 yards against the 12. The yardage its tool prints is what the wall area buys, not what the drops cut. A grasscloth with a random match needs no repeat rounding, which is why the example leaves the repeat at zero; a printed 54-inch good with a 25-inch repeat rounds each 124-inch drop to 126 and adds a yard to the example room.
Goods sold in rolls rather than by the yard, with a stated roll length, are planned on the general wallpaper calculator, which assigns drops to rolls; the effect of each match type on a drop is worked through on the repeat page. This page keeps to widths and yards.
Questions before the yardage is ordered
How do I determine how much wallcovering I need in yards?
Count the drops each wall takes at the material width, cut each drop to the wall height plus a trim allowance, and add the cuts. That sum in inches divided by 36 is the linear yardage, rounded up to the whole yard the mill sells. Dividing wall area by the width skips the drops and comes in low.
How many square feet is one yard of wallcovering?
One linear yard of 54-inch goods is 36 by 54 inches, 13.5 square feet; of 36-inch goods, 9 square feet; of 45-inch goods, 11.25. That is the material on the roll, not what lands on the wall, because every drop carries trim and any repeat rounding.
How much will 11 yards cover?
Eleven yards of 54-inch goods is 148.5 square feet of material. On 10-foot walls with a 4-inch trim each drop takes 124 inches, so 11 yards, 396 inches, gives three drops covering 13.5 feet of wall width, with 24 inches left over. The area answer would say 14.85 feet of wall; the drops say 13.5.
What about a pattern repeat?
Enter the vertical repeat and the match, and every drop is rounded up to whole repeats before the yardage is summed, exactly as on the general wallpaper calculator. Grasscloth and most textured goods have a random match; leave the repeat at zero for those.
How many yards for a 12-by-12 room?
Four walls of 12 feet at 10 feet high on 54-inch goods take three drops each, twelve drops of 124 inches: 1,488 inches, 41.3 yards, 42 to order. Railroaded, each wall takes three horizontal strips of 148 inches: 1,776 inches, 50 yards. The area method says 35.6, rounded to 36.
How many rolls for 300 square feet?
Goods sold by the yard have no roll count; the mill cuts the yardage you order from a bolt. If your product comes in rolls with a stated width and length, use the general wallpaper calculator, which assigns drops to rolls and counts them.
Is this a linear yards calculator?
Yes. The result is linear yards of material at the width you enter, plus the exact yardage before rounding, the yardage each wall consumes and the cut of every strip. The area-divided-by-width figure and a 10 percent allowance are printed beside it, not folded into it.
Does it work for commercial wallcovering?
Commercial goods are typically 52 or 54 inches wide and sold by the linear yard, which is exactly what this page models. Enter the width from the specification sheet; widths up to the field limit are accepted, and the table compares 36, 45 and 54 inches automatically.
Does it replace a mill’s yardage calculator?
The mill tools executed for this page divide wall area by the material width and round up; one of them recommends adding 10 percent. This page cuts the drops instead. For the 40-by-10-foot example both approaches are shown, 30 yards by area against 35 by drops, and the difference is the trim on ten drops.
Can I use it for peel and stick sold by the yard?
Yes, if the material is a continuous roll of stated width. Enter the width, the wall dimensions and the repeat if the pattern has one. Panels sold as fixed-size sheets are a different product; count them as drops of the panel width with no repeat.
Can one width cover a 12-by-12 room with fewer seams?
The width table answers that: 54-inch goods take three drops per 12-foot wall, 45-inch goods four, 36-inch goods four. Railroading a 10-foot wall in 54-inch goods takes three horizontal strips and two seams, the same count as vertical but with the seams running along the wall.
Is the yardage calculator free?
Yes. Drops, yards, the hanging comparison, the width table and the CSV are available without an account. The preloaded 40-foot perimeter, 10-foot height, 54-inch width and 4-inch trim are examples chosen to match the inputs the audited mill calculators were given.
What the yardage does not decide
- Rectangular walls without openings; one material width per run. Doors and windows are handled on the general calculator.
- Railroading is modeled as full-height strips along the wall with the trim added to each; a repeat entered with railroading is rounded along the wall width.
- Yards are rounded up to the whole yard; mills may sell in half-yard or bolt increments, which the spec sheet states.
- No prices, adhesive, primer or freight. Widths in the table are quotes of what those publishers state, not verified against a delivered roll.
- Seams are counted between strips on one wall; corners are not seams here.