CARPET AREA AND BUILT-UP AREA

When it comes to the area of an apartment, there are two most common ways to calculate the area: built-up area and carpet area. What is the built-up area? What is carpet area? How to calculate the area of an apartment? Those are some questions that many customers ask when buying a house or an apartment. 

The clear area of the house is calculated by measuring according to where the water flow can spread inside the house.

Join TSH to learn about the basic concepts of apartment area through the article below!

1. Carpet area?

Carpet area is that area in the flat which you could cover using a carpet. It is also known as the net usable area. Calculating the clear area is the internal area, including the area of walls separating rooms, balcony area and loggia if any. The above area does not include the following: wall area surrounding the apartment or house, walls dividing apartments, floor area with columns, technical boxes located inside the apartment. 

In Vietnamese, we also use the word “thong thuy” instead of carpet. This is a Sino-Vietnamese word, in which “Thuy” means water, and “Thong” is understood smoothly and seamlessly. So “thong thuy” area means a place where water can flow through seamlessly without any obstruction.

Calculation:

Carpet area = {Area of room dividing wall + area of balcony, loggia + living area} – {Area of surrounding wall + apartment dividing wall + floor area with columns + technical box}

*Note: When calculating the loggia area, calculate the whole floor area. In case the loggia has a common wall area, calculate from the inner edge of the common wall area.

Meaning

The purpose of determining the carpet area is that people can determine their actual usable area compared to the area they have to pay for. The carpet area is as close to the outer area as possible because depending on the architectural and structural conditions, the carpet area can be expanded to a certain extent as large as possible. In fact, many people do not pay attention to the carpet area or construction floor area, but only know the area shown in the sales documents. Therefore, buyers or users can easily suffer damage if they do not pay attention to these two types of area.

In addition, with construction designers or architects, their purpose must be to design the architecture and structure so that the carpet area is the largest and most transparent to suit the main function of the apartment.

2. Built-up area?

Built-up area, also known as construction floor area, is the calculated area including apartment or house walls, walls dividing apartments, floor area with columns, technical boxes located inside the apartment. In Vietnam, the built-up area is used by another term which is the “Tim tuong” area.

Calculation:

The way to calculate the built-up area is applied according to the following formula:

Built-up area = Room dividing wall area + balcony/loggia area + living area

Meaning

Measuring a house or apartment according to the built-up area is a more reasonable option than measuring according to the carpet area. By calculating built-up area, the space of the walls will be unusable, the walls separating each room are not load-bearing walls. Therefore, you can drill into them to install shelves for cabinets, bookshelves or TVs, paintings, etc. So it is clearly that measuring according to the “Tim tuong” area will help your ownership transparently, which is measured by clear area will not apply.

Hopefully, the information that TSH has shared about the concept, calculation and meaning of Carpet area and Built-up area will help you understand clearly to have a way to check and confirm area information. Wishing you success in the process of buying and selling real estate in general and apartments in particular!