How To Measure The Hall, Stairs & Landing For Flooring

12th March 2014

The prospect of measuring your home for new carpet or flooring can be a daunting one especially when it comes to the tricky hall, stairs and landing area.

However, with a bit of planning, some insider knowledge and the right tools (the internal measuring Stanley Powerlock Top Reader tape is ideal) it really is a very straightforward task. Read our step-by-step guide and learn how to successfully measure up your hall, stairs and landing.

Be prepared!

Before you begin arm yourself with the right tools for the job. You will need...

• tape measure
• pencil or pen
• calculator
• paper

Measuring the hall and landing

1. Measuring a hall or landing is similar to measuring up any room in your home. As such it’s easy to make the same mistakes, the most common of which is not allowing for all those nooks and crannies. Forgetting to note the position of doors, fireplaces, windows or recesses can prove a costly mistake. Avoid this by drawing a sketch of the area, marking in any of the above features. Measure the depth and width of the spaces and make a note of them on the sketch.
2. Stand with your back against the end wall and measure the length of the hallway or landing to obtain the maximum length of flooring required. Make a note of the measurement on your sketch.
3. Next measure from wall-to-wall across the hall or landing to obtain the required width of the flooring (remember you have already allowed for additional width by measuring the extra features). Make a note of the measurement on your sketch.
4. Always add 15cm to each measurement. This ensures you have allowed for extra carpet to fill doorways. It also takes into account walls which might not be straight; walls can waver even if they look straight to the naked eye.
5. Don’t forget to include the top step of the stairs in your landing measurements. On your sketch mark ‘X’ where the landing and the stairs meet. Measure over and including the top step in one piece to obtain the correct measurement.
6. Finally, calculate the total carpet needed for a hall or landing by dividing the width of each space (including the extra 15cm) by either 4m or 5m roll widths. It’s worth noting that spaces wider than standard carpet rolls will need to include a join.

Measuring the stairs

Stairs come in two types, straight or winding, and you’ll need to take a slightly different approach to measuring them dependent on what type of staircase you have.

For both types of staircase you first need to count the total number of stairs. Do not include the top step as you will have already included this in your landing measurements.

Straight stairs

1. Measure the length of the tread (the part of the step your foot would tread on) and the height of the riser (the vertical part of the step) of one stair.
2. Measure the total width of the step and repeat for several steps to take into account any variation in width.
3. If there is a turn in your straight stairs use the winding stair method below for the turn step only.
4. If you’re measuring uncarpeted stairs it’s best practise to add 2.5cm to each step then add 50cm overall to allow for underlay.

Winding stairs

1. Use the same method as you would for a straight stair but take measurements at the step’s widest and longest point.
2. You will need to measure winder steps individually as they will all differ slightly.   
3. Once again, if you’re measuring uncarpeted stairs add 2.5cm to each step then add 50cm overall to allow for underlay.

An accurate, easy to use tape measure is essential for successfully measuring up your hall, stairs and landing. Take a look at our range of everyday tape measures and find the perfect tool for your DIY project .

Written by Ian Johnson