How Roof Pitch Is Calculated
To accurately calculate the area of your roof, you must first determine its slope, or pitch. A roofs pitch is determined by how much it rises vertically for every foot it runs horizontally. Thus, a moderate 6 in 12 roof pitch means that the roof rises 6 inches vertically for every 12 horizontal inches it runs. A 12 in 12 pitch is a steep, 45-degree angle roof. See the image below for more explanation on rise, run and pitch.
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Area of a rectangle or square:A = L x WExample: 20 feet x 10 feet = 200 square feet
Area of a trapezoid:A = / 2Area = / 2Example: / 2 = 45 square feet
Area of a triangle:A = / 2Area = / 2Example: / 2 = 10 square feet
When you have finished calculating the area of each plane, use this information to find your roofs total square footage. Add the area of each plane together, and the sum will be the total square footage of the roof.
How Do I Calculate Roof Pitch
While using a roof gauge or the sight method described above are two ways of measuring roof pitch, if you have an attic, theres an even easier method. Head to the attic with a level and tape measure and choose a rafter.
For example, if the vertical measurement from the level to the rafter is 6 inches, the roof has a 6/12 pitch.
If you have a smartphone, you can also download one of several free roof pitch apps, such as Pitch Gauge. These apps allow you to determine the roof pitch simply by holding the phone against the roof or the rafter.
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Roofing Square: How Its Calculated And More
Can there be anything more exciting than building your own property? There are so many things that go into building your establishment, be it commercial or residential.
You have to think of the location, the layout, the size and measurement of the rooms, and so much more. The type of roofing you will opt for is another important aspect to take into account. While all of this sounds exciting, it can be equally tedious.
When you leave it to a contractor to choose a roof type for your home, or to replace the roof in your home, you may come across them using the following term, roofing square to describe the size of your roof.
No matter how good you are at math, you may have found that your calculations in terms of how much roofing supplies are required to put up the roofing system in your home are entirely different from what the roofing contractors you hired calculate them.
When it comes to building roofs, there are two important aspects to keep in mind:
- Roof measurements
- Roofing materials estimation
The one word that commonly gets thrown around in the world of roofing construction is roofing squares. Lets look more into what a roofing square is and why and how it matters in evaluating the shingles or roofing materials you will require in the following sections.
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Confirm Measurements Before Ordering Materials
As we mentioned, measuring from the ground is a good way to get a rough idea of what youre dealing with when approaching a roofing project. Its also a good way to give an anxious homeowner a ballpark estimate.
Image credit: stonescapesteelroofing.com
What its not good for, however, is accurately ordering roofing materials or bidding jobs. As you can imagine, theres a lot that can be missed with this method since youre not actually getting a look at the roof first.
You can end up paying way too much for material and losing money on the job. Or under-bidding a job and having to work for peanuts. So before you get to this step, youll want to confirm your estimate by either getting up on the roof or ordering a virtual report from a company like EagleView.
If youre measuring by hand, check out this article that walks you through finding square footage step by step. If youre planning to order a virtual report, its as easy as inputting an address and sitting back. Well have a report out to you usually within the hour.
Our measurements are based on patented oblique image capture technology that delivers 4x the detail of standard aerial imagery and 70x that of satellite imagery.
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How Do You Calculate The Square Footage Of A Roof
If you dont want to do a lot of measuring, you can use your pitch calculation to get an estimated square footage of your roof: Once you have your roofs pitch, divide the number by 12. Next, square your result.
How big is a 12 in 12 roof?
A 12 in 12 pitch is a steep, 45-degree angle roof. 1square of roofing covers 100 square feet of roof a bundle is 1/3 of a square.
How Many Rolls Of Felt Will You Need
Roofing felt is sold by the roll. The average roll of 15-pound roofing felt covers about 400 ft2, or 4 squares, while the average roll of 30-pound roofing felt covers about 200 ft2, or 2 squares.
Rolls of felt are 36 wide x 144 long for 15# and 72 long for 30#. Consider other underlayment options as needed, such as rubber or tar products.
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Convert The Square Footage Into Roofing Squares
A roofing square is the common unit of measurement in the roofing industry used to measure and price roofing jobs. Its related to the square footage, but its a bit different.
Image credit: vecteezy.com
A roofing square refers to a 10 x 10 area on the roof, which is the equivalent of 100 square feet. Roofers use this measurement to quickly determine how much material will be needed to do the job, as it takes about 3 bundles of shingles to cover one roofing square. So lets go back to our example of a 900 square foot roof. To convert this to roofing squares, youre going to divide 900 by 100. This comes out to 9 roofing squares.
How Do You Calculate The Square Footage Of A Sloped Roof
Simply square the rise and run of your roofs slope, add them together, then find their square root and divide it by 12. In this case, lets assume your roof has a pitch of 3/12, which means for every twelve inches of length, it will rise by two.
Does roof pitch affect square footage?
Calculating the Area If you dont want to do a lot of measuring, you can use your pitch calculation to get an estimated square footage of your roof: Once you have your roofs pitch, divide the number by 12.
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Convert Among Square Inch Square Foot Square Yard And Square Meter
You could, for example, perform all of your measurements in inches or centimeters, calculate area in square inches or square centimeters then convert your final answer to the unit you need such as square feet or square meters.
To convert among square feet, yards and meters use the following conversion factors. For other units use our calculator forarea conversions.
- Square Feet to Square Yards
- multiply ft2 by 0.11111 to get yd2
Estimating The Cost Of The Roof
Once you know the area of the roof, you have to decide on the scope of works. Do you want to build the roof from scratch, or maybe replace the old layers? You also need to decide on the finishing material. For example, asphalt shingles will be less expensive than clay tiles.
After youve made all of these decisions, its best to contact your local contractor and ask about the cost of both materials and labor per square meter or square foot of roof area. Remember that this unit price should include all additional elements such as fasteners, as well as the cost of removing all layers and disposing of them .
The most typical cost of roofing falls between $2 and $4 per square foot . If the price proposed by your contractor deviates from these values, it is advisable to check with other contractors before starting the works.
If you cannot contact any contractor, calculate the cost of materials and multiply this price by 2.5. You will obtain an approximate price including labor, assuming that 40% of the cost is taken by the materials and 60% by the labor.
The last thing you have to do is to multiply this cost by your roof area and voilà, you now know the total cost of your roof! Remember that the real cost might differ from this value a bit due to waste, so plan ahead and assign more funds to this construction work.
Make sure to take a look at our concrete slab cost calculator, too!
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Two: Split Tricky Shapes Into Squares And Rectangles
Once you have these figures, return to the safety of your home. Notice in the image above that the hip roof is made of two triangles and two trapezoids. Trapezoids are tricky to get the area measurement of, so were going to split each of them into two triangles and a rectangle:
We know enough about the overall measurements of the roof to fill in the missing values. Lets fill the figures in now:
What Is Standard Size Guttering
Rainline gutters are available in two shapes and five sizes. Half Round: 100mm, 125mm, 150mm, 190mm and Rectangular 136mm. Downpipes are available in four sizes: 75mm, 87mm, 100mm and 120mm.
What is the most common gutter size?
Five-inch K-style gutters or 6-inch half-rounds, the most common residential sizes, are able to handle the rainfall on most houses in most parts of the country.
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How To Measure Your Roof With Google Earth
Using your computer to get a ballpark estimate of your roof area is easy and fast. However, using satellite imagery may not be an ideal solution if your structure is in a very remote location that hasnt been 3D scanned. Thats because well need to grab an accurate representation of your roofs pitch for measuring purposes. From above with a 2D image, everything looks flat. If you were to just measure your roof area from directly above, you wouldnt be accounting for its pitch, or slope.
Consider two homes with the same base area square footage, but one of them has a much steeper roof pitch than the other. That structure would need to be taller, and there would be a lot more roofing material to account for. If youre just measuring from above in 2D, both of these structures might look identical. If you dont account for roof pitch, youre going to underestimate your materials requirements, which could be a costly mistake.
Satellite technology has progressed a lot in the past few years. With , you can easily find your address and a 3D replica of your structure, including your roofs pitch. Lets get to it. Once you load the site, youll be presented with our beautiful planet:
While you can switch to 2D mode by clicking the button in the lower right, youll want to stay in this 3D view so you can get a good view of your roofs pitch.
How To Calculate The Square Footage Of Your House
A house that sounds roomy and spacious online may actually have 800 of its square feet contained in a four-foot-tall dirt-floor basement. Whats up with that? In Washington DC, clients are often confused at the square footage discrepancy between whats listed and what they see on tour, and colleagues in other markets hear similar things.
Why the conflicting information? Well, the American National Standards Institute guidelines on how to calculate a homes square footage are considered the standard, but there are no official laws that govern this process. In addition, some Multiple Listing Services report all finished and unfinished square footage of a house as a single number, adding to the confusion. Since the rules arent standard, some listing agents just post their best guess on a homes square footage. As a result, buyers and their agents often have to investigate.
If you love a home, does it matter if the 2,000 square foot charmer turns out to be officially 1,600 sq ft in length? Since square footage is used to determine a homes market value, it can matter a lot. When it comes time for you to sell, 400 fewer feet in measurement can impact the price youll get, particularly in a buyers market. Which is why we created this guide on how to calculate square footage of a house.
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Do You Need Roof Repair Replacement Or New Installation In The Fort Worth Area
If so, TX Roofing Solutions is the first choice for residents in the Dallas, Texas, area.
Providing free, no-obligation roof inspections, our company can handle any service request you may have. Whether youre in Euless, Arlington, Flower Mound, Keller, Coppell, Grapevine or a surrounding area, were happy to provide you with honest, reputable roofing services.
Call us today at 726-1369 or complete our form here to request your free, on-site roof inspection.
How Do I Measure A Steep Roof
Most roofers wont go on a roof with an 8/12 roof pitch or greater with special equipment such as scaffolding and roof jacks and neither should you. Instead, use one of the four methods described above that allow you to measure the roof while standing safely on the ground or from the comfort of your computer.
While these methods may not be quite as accurate as taking actual measurements from the rooftop, theyre close enough for calculating how many shingles youll need to purchase for a new roof.
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How To Measure Your Roof From The Top Of The Structure
The most accurate way to measure your roof is by being on top of the roof itself. You can make sure each roof sections slope area is accounted for. Youll need some graph paper, measuring tape, and a calculator. For our example, well use a hip roof, though you can use this technique to measure any shape roof with varying complexity.
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.
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What Is A Roofing Square
In roofing, one square equals 10 X 10 ft., or 100 sq. ft. This unit of measurement determines how many shingles you’ll need for every 100 sq. ft. of rooftop. As you prepare for your roofing project, you’ll use squares to determine the amount of roofing materials you need, from asphalt shingles down to the underlayment.
Multiply The Slope Factor By The Number Of Roofing Squares
Ok, so now we know the slope of the roof but we need to find the slope factor to figure out how many more roofing squares we need. Fortunately, lots of roofing companies share this information online. You can see the chart above from Everlast Roofing as an example.
Image credit: Everlast Roofing
So, going back to our roof with a 4:12 slope, you can see that the corresponding slope factor is 1.0541. To find what this means in terms of roofing squares, you would do the following calculation:
9 roofing squares x 1.0541 = 9.4869 roofing squares
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Calculating The Area Of Complex Roofs
If your roof is not the classic Gable shape, or if it has multiple sections such as hips and valleys, wed recommend splitting the roof into each section and working out the areas individually. If youre unsure of how to do this, get in touch with a roofing professional. Learn how to find a good roofer.
Or, alternatively get in touch with us! Our customer service team will be able to help you calculate your roof area, and anything else you might need for your project. Call them on 01295 565 565, email , or use the handy live chat below.
Home Diy : Measuring Your Own Roof To Get An Accurate Quote
Theres perhaps nothing a Dallas / Ft. Worth contractor dreads more than a potential customer calling up and asking how much to build a garage or what would it cost to remodel my basement? Theres simply too many details that go into any contracting project for it to be fair to the customer or the builder to give a rough quote over the phone.
Along those same lines of common projects with almost unlimited variables is putting a new roof on your house. Factors such as how many layers of shingles underneath need to be torn off, the condition of the plywood sheeting, and the type of new shingles being installed all change the estimate of a new roof. For somebody with a roof leaking into the house, time is of the essence and you might not be able to wait for a contractor to get to your home, measure the roof, and draw up the bid. One way you can narrow down prospective roofing companies is by measuring your own roof with these steps and asking for a quote based on your exact square footage and design.
Know Your Roof Type
Get a Friend, Get On the Roof, and Measure Your Roof
Make a Blueprint and Calculate Roofing Square
Once youve created a blueprint and calculated the total square footage, you need to convert that into roofing square. A roofing square is 100 square feet this means that if the total area of your roof after adding together all the plains was 2000 square feet, youd divide that by 100 to need 20 square of shingles.
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