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How Do You Calculate Squares For Roofing

How To Compute It

How to measure a roof and calculate square feet. | 01/2020

Step 1: Measure the length of your roof in feet.

Step 2: Multiply this number by itself.

L*L=Square feet of roofing

Example: Your house is 25 long and 10 wide, so 25×10=250 square feet of roofing. You will need to buy about 1000 square feet of roofing to cover your entire house.

Some roofs, like a hip roof, are not a perfect square and so may require more or less roofing material. Always consult with a professional to get the most accurate measurements for your specific roof.

Hire A Professional Contractor To Measure The Tiles

As you can see, measuring a tile roof is not as difficult as many would have you believe. However, because it can be difficult to walk on a roof and measure it, it can be dangerous work for inexperienced people. For a simple roof, I generally figure 1 percent as a waste factor. To make life easier and safer, its best to hire a professional contractor to measure your shingles and the best experts.

Learn To Clean Roof Tiles.

How To Calculate The Number Of Roof Shingles Youll Need

Before you start the calculation, you need to be aware that shingles are sold by the square and by the bundle. A square of shingles will be the amount needed to cover an area of 100 square feet. The shingle bundles will be plastic or paper-wrapped bundles that are made to be light enough for a single person to carry. This means that if you are going to be using heavier shingles, you will need to have more bundles to cover each square foot.

It is common to use 3 bundles to a square of shingles. However, if you are using heavier shingles, you will require 4 to 5 bundles for a square. When you are using 3 bundles for a square, you will be getting 29 standard shingles in each bundle.

How You Get Shingles

When you are replacing your roof, you need to calculate the number of roof shingles you need. There is nothing worse than being short on shingles because you will only realize this close to the end of your project. Of course, there are some measurements which will need to be taken before you are able to calculate the number of roof shingles that you need.

The Measurement Method

If you do not have any safety equipment, you will need to use a ladder to get one measurement while the others can be made on the ground. Of course, this will be assuming that your home is rectangular. When using this method, you will need to measure the rake of the roof while standing on a ladder. This is the length from the peak of the roof to the edge where our ladder will be sitting.

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Calculate The Square Footage Of Your Roof

After considering the slope and complexity of your roof, youre ready to learn how to calculate the square footage of your roof.

To get a rough estimate for your roofs square footage, youll use this equation:

For example, if you have an easy up and over, walkable gable roof and a house that measures 56 feet lengthwise and 28 feet widthwise, your calculation will look like this:

56′ x 28′ = 1,568

1,568 x 1.3 = 2,038

Using this equation wont be 100% accurate, but knowing your roofs square footage is a great jumping-off point to learn how much youll have to invest in your replacement. After getting your roofs rough square footage, put that number in our free Roofing Calculator to get an idea on the cost of your new roof.

How To Measure A Roof

Roofing Calculator

Getting accurate roof measurements can be difficult but with this roofing calculator, youll be well prepared to take measurements of any roof. Whether youre a contractor looking to train a new employee or a homeowner looking to do some renovations, youll find this guide helpful for any roofing project. Use the step-by-step guide below to accurately measure your roof and estimate roofing costs.

Step 1: How to Calculate Your Roof Square Footage

First, measure the length and width of each surface on the roof, then multiply these values to get the square footage of that surface. Make sure to document the number of chimneys, skylights or other obstructions and include dormers in your measurements. Youll also be recording the length of your house throughout this first step in order to calculate your total area.

Add up the square footage for each surface to get the total square footage of your roof. For example:

Step 2: How to Determine Your Roof Pitch

The next step is to measure the pitch of the roof deck. Youll need to figure out the vertical distance over a 12 horizontal segment . Record these values as roof rise over run, with the vertical measurement listed first and the horizontal second.

Its important to keep in mind that the roof pitch will be dramatically different for homes with a flat roof than homes with a steep roof.

Step 3: Calculating Roof Squares

HOVER Roofing Calculator

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What About The Waste Factor Should I Order Extra Roofing Materials

You want to order extra material to account for waste. Waste factors vary.

10%-15% is a good rule of thumb, but your results may be different. More complicated roofs will have a higher waste factor because there are usually more cut shingles around corners, walls, and edges.

It is okay to have a few shingles left over. They can be saved in case there is roof damage later or if repairs need to be done in the future.

So for the 24 square roof example, you would want to add 2.4 squares which equal about 7 or 8 more bundles.

Draw A Diagram Of Your Roof

The first step in measuring your roof is to get a general idea of the area you will be measuring. Take a piece of paper and outline the appearance of your roof so that it is as close to its actual dimensions as possible. Not only will this give you a good idea of what youll be measuring, but also a handy place to record your measurements as you go. Increase these numbers by 15% to account for waste. Once you have a rough sketch of the roof, its time to go upstairs and start measuring.

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Whats Your Roof Slope

You will also need to know the slope of your deck.

To determine this, measure the vertical rise of your deck in inches over a 12 horizontal distance.

If this rise is 4, then your roof slope is 4 in 12.

Roof slopes are always expressed with the vertical rise mentioned first and the horizontal run mentioned second.

How To Calculate Squares On A Roof: Example

How to Measure the Square Footage of a Roof

Since it may still be somewhat confusing, lets look at a detailed example so that you can learn where to plug each number in. Lets start with a roof that looks like this:

For a house that is this shape, you will want to divide it into rectangular planes. There are a few ways to do this, but for this example, we will take the entire left side of the house and the entire right side of the house. This will leave the central area as the third plane.

The left side measures 20 feet, but only the entire length from the edge of the left side to the edge of the right side is measured at 30 feet. Since we only want the left side, we have to subtract the length of the center area, 8 feet, by the total length, 30 ft, to get 22 ft. This means that the total area of the left side is 20 ft by 22 ft or 440 square feet.

Doing the same for the right side, we also have one edge at 20 ft. Then, we have the width at 4 ft. This equals 80 square feet.

Finally, the central area has a length of 8 feet. The width is equal to 20 feet . Therefore the entire central area is 12 feet by 8 feet or 96 square feet.

Accounting for pitch, the total square footage is 1.29 x 616 = 794.64. However, to calculate the squares, you will have to divide that number by 100 to get 7.95. This is the number of squares and to account for any additional materials, you can round it up to 8 squares. Rounding up can also allow you to accommodate for any overhang or other discrepancies.

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How Much Sand And Cement Do I Need For 1000 Square Feet

How much sand and cement do I need for 1000 square feet? Ans. :- 210 cuft sand quantity required for 1000 square feet roof slab of 6 inch thick.

Also, How many bags of concrete are needed for a 10Ã10 pad?

Regarding this, how many bags of concrete do I need for a 10Ã10 slab?, at 4 inches thick, generally you will need approximately either 74 bags of 60lb or 56 bags of 80lb premixed concrete for a 10Ã10 slab, at 5 inches thick slab, either 93 bags of 60lb or 70 bags of 80lb premixed concrete are required, while at 6

How many bags of cement do I need for 100 square feet of concrete? Ans. :- 7.6 no of cement bags are required for 100 sq ft rcc roof slab 4 inch thick m20 grade concrete. Ans. :- 7.6 bags , 9.5 bags & 11.4 bags cement are required for 100 sq ft rcc roof slab 4 inch, 5inch & 6 inch thick respectively in m20 grade of concrete.

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Taking Pitch Into Consideration

The pitch of the roof is something that must be considered if you want to get an accurate number of squares for your roofing project. If you do plan on measuring yourself, make sure to be careful. Some roofs will have different pitches for different areas depending on the number of slopes and peaks.

Once you have the amount of pitch estimated, climb onto the roof with a two-foot level. Place the level on the peak of the roof extending outwards above the slope. Make sure that it is centered so that 1 foot will extend out in each direction from the peak. Also, make sure that the bubble is centered so that you have a level and accurate measure. When it is level, take a tape measure and measure the distance between the end of the level and the roof.

This makes a triangle where you will have a single foot as one side and the distance from the roof up to the level for another. This will give you the amount that the roof pitches because it will tell you for every foot of the roof, the pitch will increase the height amount. For example, if you have 6 inches of height and 12 inches of length, then the pitch is 6/12. This means that for every 12 inches of roof, the height increases by 6 inches.

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Who Uses Roofing Squares

The roofing square size form of measurement is only used within the roofing and construction industries. Though you can use the measurement yourself to try to calculate the cost of re-shingling your homes, such tasks are usually best left to an experienced roofing contractor. Nonetheless, even if you have confidence in your ability to determine the correct amount of materials needed, there are still a few steps you should take before you try.

How Many Shingles Do I Need For A 1012 Shed

How Many Shingles In A Square Of Roofing

How many shingles do i need for a 10×12 shed | How many bundles of shingles do i need for a 10×12 shed | how to calculate shingles quantity for 10×12 shed.

Calculation of shingles quantity is simple and easy if your shed roof is flat, but majority of house in US have pitch roof that makes calculation of square footage area for pitch roof difficult. The shed footprint is 10×12 = 120 sq ft but the roof surface is quite a bit more due to slope. Gambrel roofs have different slopes and configuration pitch but generally the roof surface is roughly twice the footprint in square footage.

This article describes the basic maths calculation to calculate roof materials such as shingles. If you have ever question yourself how many squares footage or square is my house roof? this article will help you find the square footage of your roof. This article describe about the maths formula to figure out how much shingles you need to order.

When you talked Roofing is about using the term square, a square equal to 100 square feet of roof or a 10 foot by 10 foot area. So a roof that has 200 square feet of area has 2 squares. Remember that unless the roof is flat, the square footage of the building is different than the square footage of the roof because of the slope or pitch of the roof and the overhangs.

Read Also: Adding Gable Overhang To Existing Roof

What Is A Square In Roofing

For your upcoming roofing project, you may have found out that estimates or materials are measured in squares. That may not help much if you do not know what a square in roofing is. Not only do you need to be able to answer, What is a Square in Roofing? but you probably also want to know how to determine how many squares your roof is.

A square in roofing is 100 square feet of the roof. It does not have to be a literal square and 4 x 25 is one square, just like 10 x 10. For example, a 20 square roof is a total of 2,000 square feet of surface area.

In this article, you will find information about the parameters of a square in roofing and why roofs are measured in this way. You will also learn how to measure and calculate the square footage of your roof and what you can expect to pay per square for a roofing job.

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How To Measure Your Roof Area From The Ground

A more accurate way to calculate the area of the roof than using Google Earth is to get outside to estimate the roof pitch and the base area of the property. Using these two figures, we can get a good idea of the shingle roofs square footage and estimate your asphalt shingles needs and costs. This DIY technique can be helpful, especially if you are not comfortable getting on your roof, or if you have limited access to it.

Ground measures only work well for a gabled roof, since there are usually just two main rectangular pitches to calculate area for. For more complex roof shapes, like hip roofs, youll need to work with a roofer or measure from on top of the roof itself to calculate its total area.

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Calculating The Area From The Building’s Square Footage

  • 1Find the square footage or square meterage of your home. You’ll need this information to estimate the area of your roof. You can find this information online on real estate websites or on your house or building title.XResearch source
  • Keep in mind that this estimation won’t include any areas like garages or enclosed patios that the roof covers. You may need to measure these rooms by hand to figure out the area.
  • To figure out the area of a square or rectangular room, measure length and width and multiply them together to get the area. Add that to your square footage total.
  • 2Measure the pitch of your roof in the attic. Mark a length of 1 foot on a long level, starting from one end. Hold the end you measured from against the bottom of a rafter so it’s sticking straight out horizontally and is level. From the 1 ft spot you marked on the level, measure upward to the rafter. The number is the first part of the pitch, while “12 inches” is the second part of the pitch. So if you measured a “5” going up, the pitch is 5/12, or 5 inches every 1 foot.XResearch source
  • You’re basically making a triangle. The level and measuring tape will make a right angle, while the rafter will be the hypotenuse of the triangle.
  • Most roofing calculators will accept this measurement as is, such as 5/12.
  • The pitch is important because it increases the area of the roof by stretching out the height.
  • For example, the slope factor for 5/12 is 1.08.
  • Calculate Your Roofs Total Square Footage

    How To Calculate Materials for Roofing

    To calculate the roofs total square footage, you have to go to the rooftop and measure the lengths and widths of the roof planes. But before doing that, you have to prepare adequately by assembling all the necessary tools and equipment.

    Secure a stable ladder and wear essential safety gear, including work boots with improved traction. Dont forget to carry a tape measure to help you take accurate measurements. Get a pen and a notebook for recording the measurements.

    In order to calculate the total square footage of the roof:

  • Measure the length and width of every plane of the rooftop, then multiply the length by width.
  • If the roof has a complex design, look for the formula for calculating the area of the roof configuration.
  • To get the total square footage, add the square footage of all the planes.
  • Pro Tip: As you take measurements, note the number of skylights, chimneys, and other obstructions on the roof. Such features may increase the number of planes on your roof.

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    How Many Roofing Shingles Do I Need

    To estimate how much roofing material you need, such as bundles of architectural shingles or rolls of synthetic roofing underlayment, you need to know the total square footage of your roofs surface.

    How to Calculate Total Square Footage of Your Roof

    To find your roofs total square footage:

  • Measure the length and width of each plane on the roof then multiply length times width.
  • Add the square footage of each of the planes together.
  • Example #1: Shed Roof with One Roof Plane

    For example, this shed roof has one roof plane.

    Multiply length times width :

    A x B = 40 x 30 = 1200 sq. ft. for the total square footage of the roof.

    Example #2: Gable Roof with Two Roof Planes

    This gable roof has two planes.

    So to derive the total square footage of the roof, you would:

  • Multiply length times width and length times width to get the square footage for each plane.
  • Add the two planes together.
  • For example:

    • Plane 1 : 40 x 30 = 1200 sq. ft.
    • Plane 2 : 40 x 30 = 1200 sq. ft.
    • Plane 1 + Plane 2 = 2400 sq. ft. for the total square footage of the roof.

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