Shower Tile Calculator
Quick answer: add up every tiled wall (width × height each) plus the shower floor, subtract windows, add 10–15% waste. A standard 5×3 ft alcove with 8 ft walls needs about 114 sq ft ordered. Add one section per wall below for your exact tiles, boxes, grout and cost.
How it works
How to Calculate Shower Tile
Add the pan and each wall
Enter the shower floor as its own surface, then each wall separately - back wall, left and right. Keeping the pan on its own line is what gives it the steeper waste a sloped floor needs, and the niche stays in the count because it costs cuts either way.
Set tile, grout gap and waste
Choose the wall tile and the pan mosaic, set the grout gap in millimetres, and pick a waste percentage - 15% for a straight shower, 20% for a diagonal pattern, a bench or a niche.
Read tiles, boxes, grout and cost
Everything updates as you type: tile and box counts, grout and adhesive in kilograms, and a cost total once you enter a price per box. Switch between feet and metres at any point.
How to calculate tile for a shower, wall by wall
Shower math fails when the whole alcove is treated as one rectangle. Measure the back wall full width times tiled height, then each side wall (depth times height) — corners, the valve wall and the door jamb all sit on specific walls, and their cuts pile up per wall. A 5 ft back wall plus two 3 ft sides at 8 ft high is (5 + 3 + 3) × 8 = 88 sq ft of wall, plus the 5×3 ft pan at 15 sq ft. That 103 sq ft net is the number everything else builds on.
Niches, benches and what not to deduct
A recessed niche costs more tile than it saves: its back panel plus four jamb strips run about 4 sq ft for a 12×24 in niche, so calculate niche tile as its own small area with 20% waste — especially in accent mosaic. Keep the shower door opening in the count as cut cushion, skip deducting the valve, showerhead and grab-bar holes, and subtract only real windows. Benches get measured as a top plus front face and added as one more section.
Shower floor tile: small, grippy, sloped
Shower floors want small mosaic — the dense grout joints grip bare feet and flex with the slope to the drain, which large tiles cannot follow without lippage. That is also why shower floors drink grout: budget grout generously and set waste to 15% for the floor portion. Walls are the opposite story — 12×24 in porcelain laid straight keeps grout lines few and cleaning easy at 10–12% waste. The calculator’s grout-in-kg figure already reflects this small-tile reality.
Cost and the membrane nobody budgets
Enter tiles-per-box and price-per-box for an instant job cost in your currency — shower walls usually double or triple the tile order versus the bathroom floor, so walls set the budget, not the floor. One honest exclusion: waterproofing membrane. Tile and grout slow water but don’t stop it; the membrane behind the tile does. Price it per bucket or roll at the tile store. For wall-only technique detail, see ourwall tile calculatorguide on measuring and patterns.
In depth
How the shower numbers work.
How to calculate tile for a shower— pan, walls, niche and bench measured surface by surface, with a full worked example.
Shower square footage— four ways to find your total, plus a size table for common shower types.
How much tile do I need for my shower— floor versus wall split, waste by pattern, and box maths.
Or browse all tile guides.
FAQ
Shower tile questions, answered.
How much tile do I need for a standard 3-wall shower?
How do I calculate shower wall tile square footage?
Should I deduct the shower door opening from tile area?
Mosaic or large tiles for the shower floor?
Do I need waterproofing behind shower tile?
Tiling beyond the shower? Try themain tile calculator, the floor tile calculator, the bathroom tile calculator, the ceiling tile calculator, or the backsplash tile calculator.