Wallpaper Calculator (rolls needed)
Number of wallpaper rolls for a wall area, including wastage.
Result
Rolls needed
9
How it works
The number of rolls is the wall area plus a waste margin, divided by the usable area of one roll. A standard European roll is 10 m long and 53 cm wide, giving about 5.3 m² — but only some of that survives cutting. The waste margin is where wallpaper differs from paint. Each drop has to be cut to room height, and the offcut at the top or bottom is usually too short to reuse, so 10–15% is the normal allowance for a plain paper in a standard room. A patterned paper needs more, because consecutive drops must line up. The pattern repeat is printed on the roll label: a small repeat costs little, but a large one — 60 cm or more — can push waste past 25%, since each drop may have to start further down the roll to match its neighbour. Buy all rolls from the same batch number so the colour matches exactly.
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Frequently asked questions
How big is a standard wallpaper roll?
Usually 10 m long and 0.53 m wide ≈ 5.3 m² per roll.
Why 15% wastage?
To align patterns and trim at the top and bottom of each strip.
How do I allow for the pattern repeat?
Read the repeat from the roll label and round each drop up to a whole number of repeats. A 64 cm repeat on a 250 cm wall means cutting drops of 4 repeats, 256 cm — six wasted centimetres per drop, before the usual margin.
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