Carpet Tiles vs Carpet Planks: Sizes, Layouts and How to Choose
Tiles are square, planks are long, and each piece covers the same 0.25 m². The real choice is direction, layout and how the floor will change over time.
GAIA by Sanson Floorings · New Delhi ·
Carpet tiles are square and carpet planks are long rectangles. GAIA tiles are 50 × 50 cm and GAIA planks are 25 × 100 cm, so each piece covers the same 0.25 m². Planks give a floor direction and make herringbone possible. Tiles read evenly and make zoning, cutting and replacement simple.
Most carpet decisions start with colour, but format deserves to come first. Even in the same yarn and backing, a long plank and a square tile draw very different lines across a floor. Those lines change how wide a room feels, where the eye travels and how much cutting happens at the walls.
What is the difference between carpet tiles and carpet planks?
Shape is the difference. Across GAIA's modular collections the construction is shared, so choosing a plank or a tile does not mean giving up anything in the carpet itself:
- Size: 25 × 100 cm planks or 50 × 50 cm tiles.
- Gauge: 1/12 for most collections; Dalaan is a 1/10 gauge tile.
- Yarn and pile weight: Olefin, at 18 oz.
- Backing: E-Bitumen.
- Packing: 20 pieces to a box, covering 5 m².
Because a plank and a tile each cover 0.25 m², estimating is identical for both: floor area divided by five gives the number of boxes, before any allowance for cutting.
Which GAIA collections are planks and which are tiles?
Four collections come as planks. Miami is built on fluid textures and shifting shadows, in Grey, Charcoal and Beige. Signature takes its cue from a leopard's camouflage in dense forest and runs to eight colourways: Beige, Blue, Brown, Charcoal, Dark Beige, Grey, Red and Tri Grey. Alankrit works in ornamental accents and vertical rhythm, and Drip in blurred, weathered textures, in Beige, Grey, Dark Beige, Tri Blue, Medium Grey and Dark Grey.
The square tiles include Aangan, drawn from traditional Indian courtyards, in Dark Beige, Light Grey, Medium Grey and Dark Grey; Shining Glow, a soft pixelated texture in Lt. Beige, Dark Grey and Lt. Grey; Naqsh, a bold woven geometry in Grey, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red and Blue; and Dalaan, fine linear textures inspired by corridor perspectives.
What does a carpet plank do to a room?
A plank has a direction. Run it along a corridor or a long open-plan floor and it pulls the eye down the space. Turn it across the room and the room feels wider. That makes planks useful in offices where circulation routes should read clearly, and in hotels and restaurants where the floor is meant to lead guests somewhere.
Planks also open up layouts a square cannot produce, herringbone above all. Herringbone gives a floor movement and a crafted character, but it needs more setting out and more cutting at the edges than a straight layout, so ask your installer to allow for that in the quantities.
What does a square carpet tile do?
A square has no dominant direction, so a tiled floor reads evenly across a large area. The interest comes from how the tiles are turned and combined. Blocks of two colourways can mark out a meeting zone or a café without adding a wall, and because every tile is the same square, a zone can be moved when the floor plan changes. A single worn or stained tile can be lifted and replaced on its own.
Shining Glow carpet tiles in Lt. Beige, Dark Grey and Lt. Grey.
Which layouts work with planks, and which with tiles?
Layout follows shape. Herringbone depends on the long, narrow proportions of a plank, so it belongs to planks alone; a square tile cannot be laid in herringbone. Ashlar works for both but looks different in each: staggered lengths with planks, offset columns with tiles. Quarter-turn, Brick and Monolithic are built around the square and belong to tiles.
Before fixing, lay a handful of pieces dry in the chosen layout, under the room's own light. Pattern and pile can read differently depending on which way a piece is turned, and it is far easier to change your mind at this stage than after the adhesive is down.
Carpet tiles or carpet planks: how to decide
- Long rooms and corridors: planks along the length reinforce the route; laid across, they make the space feel wider.
- Large open floors with zones: square tiles make it easy to block out colourways and rearrange them later.
- Spaces that want movement and craft: herringbone planks, with extra budget for setting out and cutting.
- Rooms full of columns, niches and cut-outs: a simple layout keeps waste under control, whichever format you choose.
- A continuous, bespoke finish across a hotel room or ballroom: consider broadloom carpet instead of either modular format.
What to send us
- the floor plan with dimensions, columns and fixed furniture;
- the main circulation routes and any zones you want to mark;
- the collections and colourways you are drawn to;
- photographs of the space and its lighting, if it already exists.
Our team will suggest a format and layout and help estimate quantities. You can browse every collection in the GAIA carpet tile range in the meantime.
Questions that come up often
What size are carpet planks?
GAIA carpet planks, including Miami, Signature, Alankrit and Drip, are 25 × 100 cm. GAIA carpet tiles such as Aangan, Shining Glow, Naqsh and Dalaan are 50 × 50 cm.
Do carpet planks and carpet tiles cover the same area per box?
Yes. Each plank or tile covers 0.25 m² and they come 20 to a box, so one box covers 5 m² in either format.
Can carpet tiles be laid in herringbone?
No. Herringbone relies on the long, narrow shape of a plank. Square carpet tiles are laid Quarter-turn, Brick, Ashlar or Monolithic instead.
Pick the format before the colour
Compare tile and plank layouts
Send GAIA by Sanson Floorings your floor plan and the collections you like, and we will help you compare carpet tiles and carpet planks for your space.