To find how many tiles a house in Nepal needs, measure the floor area of each room, the running length of skirting and the wall area of bathrooms and kitchen dado separately, add 5 to 10 percent for cutting and breakage, divide by the area of one tile and round up to full boxes. For the two-storey, 12-column house used across this site's estimate series, that comes to about 431 tiles of 600 x 600 mm (108 boxes of 4) for floors and skirting, 89 tiles of 300 x 300 mm for bathroom floors and 251 tiles of 300 x 450 mm for bathroom walls and the kitchen dado, laid with about 37 bags of cement and 3.3 m3 (117 cft) of sand. The rest of this guide shows how those numbers are worked out so you can repeat the method for your own drawings.
This is the next step after plaster quantity for a whole house and paint quantity for a house, and it uses the same building, so you can follow one house from brickwork to finishes. For a single room, the free tile calculator does the arithmetic for you.
What you are measuring: four separate items
Tiling in a house is not one item. Contractors in Nepal quote it, and municipal rate analyses price it, as separate pieces of work, and each one uses a different tile and a different bed. Mixing them into one area figure is the most common reason a tile order goes wrong.
- Floor tiles in rooms: usually 600 x 600 mm vitrified or porcelain tiles, sometimes 800 x 800 mm or 600 x 1200 mm in living rooms. Measured in m2.
- Skirting: a 75 to 100 mm strip at the foot of walls, normally cut from the same floor tile. Measured in running metres with the height stated.
- Bathroom floors: smaller anti-skid tiles, commonly 300 x 300 mm, laid with a slope to the floor trap. Measured in m2.
- Wall tiles (dado): glazed wall tiles such as 300 x 450 mm or 300 x 600 mm in bathrooms and above the kitchen platform. Measured in m2.
Stair treads, risers and landings are a fifth item. They are measured separately because every step needs cutting and nosing work. Get stair dimensions from the staircase dimensions guide and count those tiles step by step.
Measurement rules worth knowing
The Indian standard IS 1200 Part 11, method of measurement of paving, floor finishes, dado and skirting, is the rule book most Nepali estimators and bills of quantities follow. The points that matter for a house are:
- Floor and dado work is measured in square metres. Dimensions are taken to the nearest 0.01 m and areas to the nearest 0.01 m2.
- Skirting is measured in running metres, stating the height.
- Length and breadth of the floor are measured before skirting, dado or wall plaster is laid, so take the floor size from the brick face, not the finished plaster face.
- No deduction is made for small openings or embedded items (the standard uses 0.1 m2 for embedded articles and 0.2 m2 for voids). A floor trap or a pipe sleeve is not deducted; a 0.6 x 0.6 m bathroom window in a tiled wall is.
These rules are for paying the contractor; for buying tiles, add wastage on top.
Step-by-step method
- List every room with its clear inside size from the working drawing: length x breadth between brick faces.
- Choose the tile for each room: floor tile size, bathroom floor tile, wall tile, and the dado height (full height to the ceiling, 2.1 m, or 1.2 m).
- Floor area = length x breadth for each room. Add door thresholds if they are tiled. Do not deduct for columns that sit inside the wall line.
- Skirting length = room perimeter minus door widths. Leave out walls that get full dado tiles, such as bathroom walls.
- Wall tile area = (perimeter minus door widths) x dado height, minus windows and openings larger than about 0.2 m2.
- Add wastage: about 5 percent for a large plain room with straight laying, 8 to 10 percent for small rooms, bathrooms and rooms with many corners, and 12 to 15 percent for diagonal or herringbone laying.
- Number of tiles = area x (1 + wastage) / area of one tile, rounded up. For skirting, count strips: each 600 mm tile gives six strips of 100 mm, or eight of 75 mm.
- Boxes = tiles / pieces per box, rounded up. Read the pieces per box and m2 per box printed on the carton, because they change by brand and thickness.
- Bedding material: cement and sand for the mortar bed and the cement slurry, or tile adhesive by the bag.
Worked example 1: one bedroom with 600 x 600 tiles
Take the bedroom from the plaster post: 3.77 m x 3.27 m inside, one 0.9 m door, 600 x 600 mm floor tiles and 100 mm skirting cut from the same tile.
Area method. Floor area = 3.77 x 3.27 = 12.33 m2. One tile = 0.36 m2. 12.33 / 0.36 = 34.2 tiles. With 5 percent wastage: 12.33 x 1.05 / 0.36 = 35.96, so 36 tiles.
Layout method. The area method hides where the cuts fall, so check it by drawing the tiles. Start from one corner. Along the 3.77 m side you fit 6 full tiles (3.60 m) and a cut piece 0.17 m wide. Along the 3.27 m side you fit 5 full tiles (3.00 m) and a cut piece 0.27 m wide.
- Full tiles: 6 x 5 = 30.
- The 0.17 m strip needs 5 pieces of 0.6 x 0.17 m. One tile gives three such pieces, so 2 tiles (one piece spare).
- The 0.27 m strip needs 6 pieces of 0.6 x 0.27 m. One tile gives two, so 3 tiles.
- The corner piece 0.17 x 0.27 m comes from the spare 0.17 m piece.
- Total: 30 + 2 + 3 = 35 tiles, before breakage.
Now the catch. A 0.17 m sliver at a doorway looks poor, so many masons centre the layout and put equal cuts on both sides. Centred, the room takes 5 full tiles plus two 0.385 m cuts one way, and 4 full tiles plus two 0.435 m cuts the other way. That layout needs 20 full tiles, 10 edge tiles, 8 edge tiles and 4 corner tiles: 42 tiles, about 23 percent more than the bare area. Neither answer is wrong. Decide the layout with the mason before you order, then add 2 or 3 tiles for breakage.
Skirting. Perimeter 2 x (3.77 + 3.27) = 14.08 m, minus the 0.9 m door = 13.18 m. At 0.6 m per strip that is 22 strips. One 600 x 600 tile cuts into six 100 mm strips, so 4 tiles. The room needs 35 + 4 = 39 tiles. Add about 5 percent for breakage and buy 41, which is 11 boxes of 4 (44 tiles, leaving 3 spare for future repairs).
Bed material. For a 20 mm bed of 1:4 cement sand mortar: wet volume 12.33 x 0.020 = 0.247 m3, dry volume x 1.27 = 0.313 m3, cement = 0.313 / 5 x 1,440 kg = 90 kg = 1.8 bags, sand = 0.251 m3. The cement slurry under the tiles at 3.3 kg per m2 adds 40.7 kg, about 0.8 bag. So one bedroom floor takes about 2.6 bags of cement and 0.25 m3 (9 cft) of sand.
Mortar, slurry and adhesive per 100 m2
The common specification for floor tiles, used in CPWD-style schedules that many Nepali bills copy, is tiles laid on a 20 mm bed of 1:4 cement mortar with grey cement slurry at 3.3 kg per m2 and joints grouted with white cement. Wall tiles go on a 12 mm bed of 1:3 mortar with the same slurry. The table below uses the same dry factor (1.27), cement density (1,440 kg/m3) and 50 kg bags as the plaster post.
| Bed | Cement (bags per 100 m2) | Sand (m3 per 100 m2) | Sand (cft per 100 m2) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floor, 20 mm 1:4 | 14.63 | 2.03 | 71.8 |
| Floor, 25 mm 1:4 (uneven slab) | 18.29 | 2.54 | 89.7 |
| Floor, 30 mm 1:4 (to make up levels) | 21.95 | 3.05 | 107.6 |
| Wall, 12 mm 1:3 | 10.97 | 1.14 | 40.4 |
| Wall, 12 mm 1:4 | 8.78 | 1.22 | 43.1 |
| Cement slurry, 3.3 kg per m2 | 6.60 | none | none |
Many sites in Kathmandu now fix wall tiles, and large floor tiles, with polymer tile adhesive instead of a thick mortar bed. Coverage depends on the trowel notch. Sika's data sheet for a regular cement-based tile adhesive gives about 3.5 kg per m2 with a 6 mm notched trowel and about 5 kg per m2 with a 10 mm trowel, in 25 kg bags. Figures differ between brands, and adhesive needs a flat, levelled surface.
Worked example 2: the whole 12-column house
This is the same two-storey house as the brick, plaster and paint posts: a 3 x 4 column grid with bays of 3.5 + 4.0 m one way and 3.0 + 3.6 + 4.2 m the other. From the plaster post, the inside floor area is 77.16 m2 per floor and the inside wall length is 68.16 m per floor. The finishes below are example choices for this house; change them to match your own drawing.
- Stair hall 2.1 x 3.2 m per floor (6.72 m2): left out here, priced with the stair.
- One bathroom 2.4 x 1.5 m per floor: 300 x 300 anti-skid floor tiles, 300 x 450 wall tiles to 2.1 m height, 0.75 m door, 0.6 x 0.6 m window.
- All other rooms: 600 x 600 vitrified floor tiles with 100 mm skirting.
- Kitchen on the ground floor: 300 x 450 wall tiles 0.6 m high above a 3.0 m platform.
Measurements per floor
- Room floors: 77.16 - 6.72 - 3.60 = 66.84 m2.
- Bathroom floor: 2.4 x 1.5 = 3.60 m2.
- Bathroom walls: (2 x (2.4 + 1.5) - 0.75) x 2.1 = 14.81 m2, minus the 0.36 m2 window = 14.45 m2.
- Skirting: 68.16 m of inside wall, minus 7.8 m of bathroom wall (tiled full height), minus door widths on each face (1.0 m main door, five 0.9 m doors on two faces, the second 0.75 m door on two faces and the bathroom door on its room side only) = 48.11 m.
Quantities for both floors
| Item | Measured | Tile | Wastage | Tiles | Boxes (example pack) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Room floors | 133.68 m2 | 600 x 600 | 8% | 402 | 108 boxes of 4 (431 tiles) |
| Skirting, 100 mm | 96.22 m | strips from 600 x 600 | 5% | 169 strips = 29 tiles | |
| Bathroom floors | 7.20 m2 | 300 x 300 | 10% | 89 | 9 boxes of 11 |
| Bathroom walls + kitchen dado | 28.89 + 1.80 = 30.69 m2 | 300 x 450 | 10% | 251 | 32 boxes of 8 |
Pieces per box above are only examples for the arithmetic. A 600 x 600 box of 4 pieces covers 1.44 m2, but wall tile and anti-skid packs vary between brands, so recount with the number on the carton you actually buy.
Bedding for the whole house (mortar bed with slurry):
- Floors, 20 mm 1:4 on 140.88 m2: 20.6 bags of cement, 2.86 m3 of sand.
- Walls and skirting, 12 mm 1:3 on 40.31 m2 (30.69 m2 of dado plus 9.62 m2 of skirting face): 4.4 bags, 0.46 m3 of sand.
- Cement slurry at 3.3 kg per m2 on 181.19 m2: 12.0 bags.
- Total: about 37 bags of cement and 3.32 m3 (117 cft) of sand, plus white cement and pigment for grouting.
If the wall tiles are fixed with adhesive instead of mortar, the 30.69 m2 of dado needs about 107 kg (5 bags of 25 kg) at 3.5 kg per m2, or about 153 kg (7 bags) at 5 kg per m2, and the wall mortar line drops out.
For a quick check on other houses, this example works out to about 1.03 m2 of tiling per m2 of built-up area (181.19 m2 against 175.1 m2). A house with more bathrooms or full-height bathroom tiles will be higher.
Cost check with a municipal rate
The Suryabinayak Municipality rate analysis for 2081/82 lists flooring items including 15 percent overhead. A few that matter for a house:
| Item (Suryabinayak 2081/82) | Rate per m2 (Rs) |
|---|---|
| Porcelain glazed tile in 1:4 cement sand mortar | 3,682.19 |
| 20 mm terrazzo tile flooring with 20 mm cement sand mortar | 4,985.84 |
| 16 mm marble flooring on 20 mm 1:2 mortar, rubbed and polished | 5,383.87 |
| 19 mm granite flooring on 20 mm 1:2 mortar, rubbed and polished | 8,416.16 |
| 38 mm PCC 1:2:4 flooring with cement punning | 802.73 |
Using the porcelain tile rate for all 181.19 m2 (skirting counted by its face area) gives about Rs 6,67,183 for the example house, or roughly Rs 3,800 per m2 of built-up area. This is a rough figure: the rate has no separate wall tile or skirting item, and tile prices in a showroom range widely. Rates also change by municipality and by fiscal year, so use the current rate analysis of your own municipality for a bill, and check the overall budget with the house construction cost calculator.
Common mistakes seen on Nepali sites
- Ordering by the built-up area. The plinth area includes walls, the staircase and the balcony slab. Tiles go on clear room floors, so measure rooms one by one.
- Forgetting skirting. In the example house the skirting alone uses 29 tiles. If the shop sends exactly the floor quantity, the last room ends up short.
- Buying from two batches. Tiles of the same design from different production lots can differ in shade and in size by a millimetre or two. Buy everything, plus spares, in one lot and check the shade code on the carton.
- No spares kept. Keep 2 to 4 tiles of each type after the job. A cracked tile in five years is easy to replace only if you have the same tile.
- Laying before the slab and plaster are ready. Floor tiles go down after wall plaster, electrical conduits and plumbing are finished, and after the floor slope in bathrooms is set to the trap. Tiling first and breaking later wastes tiles and labour.
- Thick mortar to hide a bad slab. A 50 mm bed doubles the cement and adds load. Correct large level errors with a screed first, then tile on a normal bed.
Frequently asked questions
How many 600 x 600 tiles are needed for 100 sq ft?
100 sq ft is 9.29 m2. One tile is 0.36 m2, so 25.8 tiles, or about 28 with 8 percent wastage. That is 7 boxes of 4.
How much wastage should I add for tiles?
About 5 percent for a large rectangular room laid straight, 8 to 10 percent for small rooms and bathrooms, and 12 to 15 percent for diagonal patterns. Large tiles in small rooms waste more, as the bedroom example shows.
How many cement bags are needed for tile fixing per 100 sq ft of floor?
For a 20 mm 1:4 bed plus 3.3 kg per m2 of slurry: 14.63 + 6.60 = 21.2 bags per 100 m2, which is about 2.0 bags per 100 sq ft. Add more if the slab is uneven and the bed has to be thicker.
Should wall tiles be fixed with adhesive or cement mortar?
Both are used in Nepal. Adhesive gives a thinner, more even bed and is common for large and vitrified wall tiles; cement mortar is cheaper per bag and fills uneven brickwork. Follow the tile maker's advice and use one method for the whole wall.
For more practice on estimation topics, try the engineering MCQ practice sets, and see all free calculators on the engineering tools page.
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