Toilet paper is one of life’s necessities. As a necessity, you should know how many of these products you’re consuming in a week or a month, right? This may take some mathematical skills and comprehension but bear with me. I’m telling you, you need to know how long is a toilet paper roll so you can accurately estimate how many you should buy from the grocery store in one go.
Here’s the deal. Not all toilet paper rolls are the same. It may look like all of them come in the same size and type, but no. Don’t be fooled by what your eyes are telling you. Read through consumer reports if you have the time to check.
There are several ways to find out how long each toilet paper roll is and that’s exactly what we’re going to share with you today. But we’re warning you. You are going to need that TP roll calculation skills so be prepared! After doing all these, you’ll know for sure if you’re getting the better deal buying a mega roll versus a regular roll.
Contents
Knowing the Standard Toilet Paper Rolls
If this is a perfect world, a regular roll of bathroom tissue paper would be about 333 feet in length. This is considering the standard roll measurements. Of course, if it’s a double roll, then that value would also double. Consider that if you’re into buying a jumbo roll instead of the standard roll.
Having said that, one roll of toilet paper could cover a 111-square-foot bathroom. This is because the regular toilet roll has a length of 4 inches and a width of 4 inches. When you multiply that all together, you’ll come up with the values stated above.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to determine the length of your favorite brand of toilet roll. The steps here are very simple and you can do them with any other toilet paper brand. That way, you’ll know exactly if you’re getting the best deal or not. This computation method will also apply to a jumbo roll, a mega roll, or a similar larger roll of paper towel. But then again, toilet paper manufacturers don’t use a cookie-cutter formula so there could be wide variations in your computation.
Materials Needed
- Ruler or measuring tape
- Calculator
Step 1. Find out the length of the toilet paper
The length that you’re looking for this is the measure of the toilet paper from top to bottom. You may also think of this as the height of the toilet paper. If you can, take one sheet of toilet paper and lay it down on the table. Then measure its length from left to right.
If you can’t do that because you’re inside the store, try to measure along the cardboard tube or cardboard core instead. Based on the example above, the measurement you’ll get should be approximately 4 inches. Of course, those mega rolls will have a much longer cardboard tube. Expect to get a different value here, especially when computing the total area of the paper roll.
Step 2. Find out the width of the toilet paper
The width of the toilet paper is measured from left to right. Basically, you’re measuring the size opposite the length. The usual width of toilet paper is 4 inches. Again, not all these products are of the same size. Some have a width of only 3.7 inches. Here also is where most brands differ.
Step 3. Check the number of individual sheets per roll
This is yet another measure where not all brands are the same. Commonly, toilet papers come in either 1 ply or 2-ply but you may also find 3-ply or 4-ply bathroom tissue papers in stores. Note that the number of plies could affect the total length of each toilet paper roll. Take note of how many plies each sheet has.
Step 4. Compute the total length of the toilet paper roll.
If you’re merely interested in how long the toilet paper roll is, then you only must take the width of the toilet paper and then multiply it with the number of sheets it has. The total number of sheets is usually found on the packaging. Commonly, the toilet paper will have 1,000 sheets if it is a 1 ply toilet paper roll. It will have 500 sheets if it is double-ply, and so on. So, for a 4-inch-wide toilet paper having 500 sheets per roll, the total length is 2,000 inches or approximately 166 feet.
Step 5. Measure the total area covered by the toilet paper.
If you’re also interested in measuring the area covered by the entire toilet paper roll, you may follow this bonus step. Here, you’ll need both the length and the width, along with the total number of sheets per roll. In the example above, the tissue paper length is 4 inches. The width is also 4 inches. Multiply both and you’ll get an area of 16 square inches for every sheet of tissue.
To get the total area that the entire roll of toilet paper, multiply 16 square inches by the number of sheets. If the packaging says that the toilet paper roll has a total of 500 sheets, then that’s 16 square inches multiplied by 500. The answer is 8,000 square inches or more than 55 square feet.
Why is it Important to Measure the Length of Toilet Paper Rolls?
We can’t stress the importance of measuring toilet paper rolls enough. Now that toilet paper rolls are considered basic commodities, we want you to get the best bang for your bucks. These measurements can help determine how long these toilet paper will last. It could also help you in budgeting. While the process may be a little more complicated for mega rolls, you’ll still arrive at the same results.
In fact, there’s still yet one factor here that wasn’t considered, which is the weight. The weight of the tissue roll, or all other paper products for that matter, can also give you a good idea of its performance. As such, don’t easily assume that a heavier toilet paper has more plies or is automatically a good buy. Additionally, those bigger ones may not even fit in your tissue dispenser.
Sometimes, the toilet paper is thicker only because the paper used is not virgin pulp. Maybe it’s made with recycled toilet paper, we don’t know. Best to check if the manufacturer indicates what materials are used on the label. If you want toilet paper that is soft as facial tissue, then the weight is something that you should strongly consider. But if you’re okay using recycled paper, then this shouldn’t be an issue.
How Many Toilet Paper Rolls Do You Need?
On average, a person uses 20 sheets of single-ply toilet paper each time. If it’s a 2-ply toilet paper, then he or she may only need 10 sheets per use. Let’s say assume that you go to the toilet seat three times a day. So, that’s 30 or 60 sheets of toilet paper, depending on the number of tissue plies. You may, of course, put out that privacy notice on the toilet door more on other days, and less on some.
Doing the math again, a double-ply tissue roll with 500 individual sheets divided by 30, which is the average daily use, will give a result of 16 days. In a month, you’ll need two double-ply tissue rolls for your personal use. That’s the average roll you should stock in your laundry room. But sure to add some extras to cover those unexpected toilet visits.
Multiply that with the number of people in your household and that’s how many rolls of paper towels you’ll need for each person each month. So as not to feel that your personal information or privacy rights are threatened when asking the salesman how many toilet papers you’ll need, get your toilet paper calculator handy. Not being a Sam Harris or Ben Sassoon here, but every person needs it!
While it seems weird going through all these computations for toilet paper rolls, the signs of times, that are not just evident in New York but everywhere else, demand it. The changing health advisories and protocols advertised in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and other publications in recent days indicate that we all should be very careful about our well-being. Sanitation remains supreme. Be one of the wiser consumers. You should always get the best toilet paper that your money can buy.
