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Room Area Calculator

Needed for the volume. Most Dubai flats are about 3 m.

Your answer

Floor area

20 m2

That is 215.3 square feet.

Distance around the room
18 m
Room volume
60 m3
Ceiling area
20 m2
Wall area, no openings taken off
54 m2
Floor area in square feet
215.3 sq ft

The ceiling area is the same as the floor area in a normal room, because the ceiling sits directly above the floor.

Room Area Calculator for Dubai and the UAE

This tool gives you three numbers for a room: the floor area, the distance around the room, and the volume of air inside it.

Each one is used for something different. Floor area for flooring and tiles. Perimeter for skirting and cornice. Volume for working out what size air conditioner a room needs.

Answers come in metric and in square feet, because property here is listed in square feet and materials are sold in square metres.

The three numbers and what each is for

One measurement of a room gives you all three. They get used for different jobs.

  • Floor area

    For flooring, tiles, carpet, vinyl and marble. Also for the ceiling, because the ceiling is the same size as the floor.

  • Perimeter

    The distance right around the room. This is what skirting board, cornice and coving are bought by, because they are sold by the running metre.

  • Volume

    Length times width times height. This is the air in the room, and it is what an air conditioner has to cool.

  • Wall area

    Perimeter times height. Useful for paint and wallpaper, though for those you also want to take the doors and windows off.

Why volume matters for air conditioning

This is the number most people never work out, and it is the one that decides whether a room is comfortable in August.

An air conditioner is not cooling a floor. It is cooling the air in the room, and how much air there is depends on the height as well as the floor size.

Two rooms can have the same 20 square metre floor and need very different units. One in a flat with a 2.7 m ceiling holds 54 cubic metres of air. One in a villa with a 4 m ceiling holds 80. That is nearly half as much again to cool.

This is why a unit that was fine in an apartment feels weak when the same person moves to a villa. The floor plan looked similar. The volume was not.

Once you have the volume, the AC tools on this site turn it into a BTU figure and a tonnage.

Square feet and square metres

In the UAE you will meet both, often in the same conversation.

Property listings are almost always in square feet. A two bedroom flat might be advertised as 1,100 square feet.

Building materials are almost always in square metres. Tiles, paint, flooring and quotations from contractors are priced that way.

One square metre is about 10.76 square feet, so 1,100 square feet is roughly 102 square metres. That is the same flat, described two ways.

When you are comparing prices, make sure both sides are in the same unit. A price that looks ten times better usually is not.

Measuring rooms that are not rectangles

A few shapes come up often in Dubai homes.

  • L shaped rooms

    Split it into two rectangles. Work each one out here and add the floor areas together. For the perimeter, measure right around the actual outside.

  • Rooms with a built in wardrobe

    If the wardrobe sits on the floor, take its footprint off for flooring but leave it in for AC, because the air above it is still in the room.

  • Open plan living and kitchen

    For flooring, measure the whole space. For air conditioning, treat it as one room, because the air moves freely between the two.

  • Double height rooms

    Measure the real height, even if it is 6 m. The floor area is unchanged but the volume doubles, and that changes the cooling completely.

How accurate does this need to be

It depends what you are buying.

For paint, close is fine. Being half a square metre out changes nothing, because you round up to whole tins anyway.

For flooring and tiles, be careful. Material is expensive per square metre and you also need extra for cuts. Measure twice and add ten per cent.

For skirting and cornice, measure properly. It is sold by the length, so an error is a direct cost, and you always need extra for the mitres at each corner.

For air conditioning, the exact number matters less than the size band it lands in. A unit is chosen from a short list of sizes, so being slightly out rarely changes the answer. Being badly out does.

Questions people ask

How do I calculate the area of a room?

Multiply the length by the width. A room 5 m long and 4 m wide has a floor area of 20 square metres, which is about 215 square feet.

What is room volume and why do I need it?

Volume is length times width times height, measured in cubic metres. It tells you how much air is in the room, which is what an air conditioner has to cool.

How many square feet is a 4 by 5 metre room?

A 4 m by 5 m room is 20 square metres, which is about 215 square feet.

Is the ceiling the same area as the floor?

In a normal room, yes. The ceiling sits directly above the floor, so length times width gives you both. A stepped false ceiling has slightly more surface.

What do I use the perimeter for?

Skirting boards, cornice, coving and floor trim. They are sold by the running metre, so the distance around the room is the number you order by.

Should I take off built in wardrobes?

For flooring, yes, if the floor does not run underneath. For paint and for air conditioning, no, because the walls and the air are still there.

Need the job done

We do this work across Dubai

Use the numbers above to plan, then let us quote the real thing.

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