How To Calculate Sq. Ft To Sq. Yds

For most Americans, it's intuitive to measure just about anything, from your own height to the distance you'd throw a ball or the length of a wall, in feet. When you start dealing in two dimensions (also called area), it's natural to switch to square feet. But if you're ever in a position to buy or install new flooring, you'll quickly find that this sector is one of the last bastions of the square yard, which means that you need to be able to nimbly convert measurements from square feet to square yards.

1. Collect or Make Measurements in Feet

Measure the dimensions of the space you're dealing with in feet, or if you're doing a word problem, use logic to figure out its dimensions in feet. If you already have the dimensions in square feet, you can skip ahead to Step 3.

Always double-check the units you're dealing with, and convert them to feet if necessary. Sometimes in school the teacher will try to trick you by slipping different units of measure into a problem, and sometimes in real life you can trick yourself by mistake by doing the same thing. If a measurement isn't clearly labeled with its unit of measure, you can't assume that it's in feet. The measurement may be in inches, meters or some other type of unit.

2. Calculate Square Footage

Multiply the length and width of your space together to get its dimensions in square feet. So if you're calculating how much flooring you need for a room that measures 10 feet by 13 feet, its area is:

\(10 \text{ ft} × 13 \text{ ft} = 130 \text{ ft}^2\)

3. Convert to Square Yards

Divide your space's area in square feet by 9. The result is the same space's dimensions in square yards. So if your room measures 130 ft², its dimensions in square yards will be

\(130 \text{ ft}^2 ÷ 9 = 14.4444 \text{ yds}^2\)

In the real-world construction industry, rounding your answer to 4 decimal places is usually sufficient. If you're doing a math problem, however, your teacher might have different requirements for where and if you should round off.