How Many Extra Shingles Should You Buy
If you order shingles based solely on the area of the roof, you wont have enough. Youll need shingles for starter courses along the eaves and sometimes at rakes, and youll need shingles to cap hips and ridges. Cutting shingles also generates waste. In some places, including at the rakes, against walls and chimneys, and at valleys, youll need to cut shingles. Some of the cutoffs will be big enough to use as starter shingles or in other areas where cut shingles are needed, but smaller cutoffs will be waste.
How To Calculate Roof Squares For Your Backyard Storage Shed
This article describes the basic math to calculate roof materials. If you have ever asked yourself “how many squares is my roof?” this article will help you find the answer. This article teaches you the math formula to figure out how much roofing and underlayment you need to order.
Roofing is talked about using the term “square”, as in “This shed roof is 16 squares”. A “square” refers to 100 square feet of roof or a 10 foot by 10 foot area. So a roof that has 1600 square feet of area has 16 squares. Remember that unless the roof is flat, the square footage of the building is different than the square footage of the roof. This is because of the pitch of the roof and the overhangs.
How Many Roof Turbines Do I Need
How many roof Turbines do I need: Are you aware that several factors determine the appropriate number of turbines you need? Yes, these factors include, but are not limited to the type and size of the building. Roof turbines are mainly installed at the highest point on the roofs surface since they utilize wind power turbines to inhale all the hot air and moisture out of your attic.
Remember, installing the appropriate number of turbines is the only sure way of ensuring a balanced and effective system. Besides, it provides your house has a continuous supply of fresh and cold air. It is important to note that several vital calculations are vital to accurately determine the number of turbines required during a roofing project. However, kindly note that this information is just an example since the precise number of turbine units needed depends on overall dimensions and your roofs shape.
You May Like: Cost Of New Roof Los Angeles
Headlap 1 Square Isnt Always Exactly 100 Square Feet
If youre hiring a qualified contractor for your project, then you dont need to worry about this, but if youre replacing your own roof you need to understand headlap!
Earlier we mentioned that a roofing square is equal to 100 square feet. While true in most cases, this calculation does not consider headlap.
What is headlap? Headlap is the overlap of a row of shingles on top of the next row, which helps protect against water penetration. Because of headlap, a square of roofing shingles never really equals exactly 100 square feet of roofing when you line all the materials up.
Put plainly as possible: one square of roofing is not 100 square feet exactly, but is enough to cover 100 square feet of roofing area. The materials themselves may, and often are, more than 100 square feet in total.
How To Calculate Number Of Roofing Shingles
Fortunately, you don’t have to make a haphazard shingle estimate when planning for your roofing project: your roof size and chosen shingle type will guide the purchase process.
Shingles are sold in prepackaged bundles, not individually. Roofing manufacturers take the guesswork out of how many bundles you need per squareit’s listed in the specifications of each shingle they make. The specs for any given shingle will tell you how many bundles make up a square, how many shingles are in a square, and even the approximate number of nails you’ll need per square.
Often, three bundles of prepackaged asphalt shingles make one square, as is the case with the Timberline® HDZ Shingles. That said, the number of bundles you need can vary depending on shingle design. For example, five bundles of architectural asphalt shingles with artisan-crafted shapes, such as the Grand Sequoia® Shingle, cover one square. Once you know the number of squares of material your roof needs, check the shingle manufacturer specifications so you get your hands on exactly what you need.
If you’re still deciding on the perfect shingle for your roof, play around with the GAF VirtualRemodeler. The free online tool helps you envision how different shingle colors and styles would work with your home’s style. Be sure to keep local building codes in mind as you weigh your shingle options..
Recommended Reading: How Much Does A Roof Cost In California
How Much Does A Bundle Of Shingles Weigh
A bundle of shingles weighs anywhere from 60 to 80 pounds. Most bundles are in the 70-pound range. A bundle must be light enough to be handled by your average-sized adult. Therefore, you will not find bundles that way anywhere beyond 80 pounds.
Very thick laminated architectural shingle bundles may weigh less if it requires 4 bundles to make a square of roofing. In that case, each bundle will cover a smaller area and will thus weigh less. However, the majority of shingle bundles will have a similar weight.
Calculating The Area Of A Complex Roof
Areas of complex roofs with multiple hips and valleys take the most time to calculate. Start by making a rough sketch of the roof. To simplify the calculation, break down the sketch into rectangles and right triangles , then take as many measurements of the roof as you can to match the sides of the rectangles and triangles on the sketch.
Use visual cues from the existing roof shingles or roof sheathing to determine square lines off eaves edges or ridges. These cues will help you measure the lengths of the sides of the rectangles and triangles. For instance, the cutout slots on shingled roofs run perpendicular to the eaves, and nail rows in sheathing are pretty close to square also. It is difficult sometimes to get accurate measurements. Dont get too concerned though just round lengths to the nearest 6 in.
With the sketch filled in with measurements, you can determine the size of the roof area. The area of a rectangle is length multiplied by width, whereas the area of a right triangle is the length of the two sides that meet at the 90-degree corner multiplied together and divided by two .
Tally the square footages of all the rectangles and triangles, which will give you the total square footage for the roof. The example here shows the calculation for a roof with two hips.
You May Like: How Many Screws Per Square For Metal Roofing
Do People Still Use 3
The result, says Joan Crowe, a technical services director for the National Roofing Contractors Association , is that each shingle looks like three separate pieces when installed, but its only one. Three-tab shingles have been around a long time and are still the most economical and most popular shingle today
Figure Out The Area Of The Shed Plus The Overhangs
Determine the squre footage of the shed foot print by measuring the length and width of the shed including the overhangs. For example, if you have a simple 12 foot by 16 foot shed you add the overhangs to those dimensions. If the overhangs are 1′-0″ then you have 2′ extra each dimension. 14′ x 18′ = 252 sf. flat.
Don’t Miss: Roofing Cost Los Angeles
How Many Shingles In A Bundle
Im starting to think about re-shingling my roof as its got some age and the shingles are looking a little rough. Since my roof is a couple of rectangles, its easy to calculate the surface area. I figured I could estimate how many shingles I needed and the total cost. But before I calculated the cost, I still needed to know how many shingles in a bundle?
For traditional asphalt 3-tab roof shingles, there are 26 pieces in a bundle. Architectural shingles will have around 21 shingles per bundle for similar square footage, as they are larger than standard 3-tab shingles.
Depending on the shingle manufacturer, the number of shingles in a bundle can vary widely. Since shingle dimensions vary so much, it is often helpful to have a shingle calculator to determine the number of pieces and bundles youll need for your project.
In this article, well take a look at a shingle calculator that helps you with precise estimates for your roofing material, as well as various examples of roofs and how to determine shingle bundles and squares for a new, shingled roof.
Quick Navigation
How Shingle Quantities Are Measured
Roof shingles are sold by both the bundle and by the square. A square of shingles is the quantity needed to cover 100 sq. ft. of roof. Shingles are packaged in paper- or plastic-wrapped bundles designed to be light enough for a person to carry, so heavier shingles require more bundles per square. Three bundles to a square is most common, which applies to most three-tab strip shingles and some lightweight laminated shingles. Heavier three-tabbed shingles and laminated shingles require four, or sometimes five, bundles to cover a square. When shingles come three bundles to the square, there are 29 standard-sized shingles in each bundle.
Figuring out the roof area is the first step to determine how many bundles youll need to order. There are two ways to size up a new or freshly stripped roof: the measurement method and the sheet-count method. Theres a third method for calculating bundles when youll be laying new shingles over old or if the old roof is still in place.
Once you have a bundle or square count for the main roof area, youll add additional shingles to account for waste, starter shingles, and extra shingles for hip and ridge caps.
Read Also: Skylight On Metal Roof
How Many Clumps Of Lath Are There In A Square
Four packs for one square. A square is 100 square meters. If you use some of the heavier roofs, most will cover a single package of about 33 square feet of roof, so for a 28,000 square foot roof it would take around 850 packages of shingle! 2 answers. Regular architectural laths are about 3 packs per square.
How Big Is A Square In Roofing
The calculations above will give you the total number of square feet of the roof area.
As you have noticed in the roofing industry however, the surface of the roof is being measured in squares. This refers to the roof area that measures approximately 100 square feet.
Therefore: 1 Square in Roofing = 100 square feet
Now, in order to determine how many squares are there on the gable roof for example, all you need to do is divide the total square footage by 100.
- Total square footage from Example 2 above: 28,000 sq. ft.
- Number of squares for 2 planes: 28,000 sq. ft. ÷ 100 = 280 squares
This means that both planes of the roof will require 280 squares of shingles. A three-tab shingle, which is most commonly used, is packed in 3 bundles per square.
Also Check: Roof Cost California
Hip And Ridge Cap Roofing Shingles
A bundle of hip and ridge cap roofing shingles has between 20 and 24 shingles. GAF hip and ridge shingles have 30 pieces per bundle. Owens Corning hip and ridge shingles have 24 shingles per bundle.
Owens Corning hip and ridge shingles come as a 36×12 3-tab shingle, with pre-cut perforations that allow you to tear off each hip and ridge shingle. So one shingle is 3 hip and ridge shingles. They sell packs of 24 shingles, but each shingle contains 3 hip ridge shingles, so you get 72 in all. This will cover 33 linear feet of your hip or ridge.
GAF hip and ridge shingles are 12 x 12, and it takes 30 of them to make 20 linear feet. If you use them to make hip joints to your peaks, then the linear length may be less as youll use more shingles to bridge the peak to hip transition.
What If You Have A Steep Roof
To measure a steep roof, use one of the following alternate methods:
Method 1
Calculate the roof length by measuring the exterior walls plus the overhang for the length of the house parallel to the ridge.
Next, throw a rope over the ridge and mark it where it meets each eave. This will give the width dimension to use in figuring your area. This should be done on each roof section containing a horizontal ridge.
Method 2
Determine the roof area by using a mathematical formula that accounts for the roof length, total span, and roof pitch:
Also Check: Roof Replacement Cost In California
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 Many Roofing Nails Per Square
Allpoint ConstructionCategories :News
How To Calculate Roofing Nails
Your roof is one of the most important structural elements of your house, and in order to complete a successful re-roofing project, a significant investment in both time and money is required. It is highly recommended you hire a professional contractor for roofing work, and it can be difficult to cover the costs of pricey mistakes.
If you are undertaking the project yourself, its critical to remember roof work can be a risky and potentially dangerous job. Anything you can do take fewer trips up and down the ladder to the roof lessens the chance of injury.
A simple bit of math when making your supply plan can help you estimate just how many roofing nails are needed for a roofing job. You will need to know the size of your roof, and then you will be able to calculate an estimate of how many points of roofing nails you will need to buy.
When you are planning out a roofing project, it is key to track how much weight they add to the roof, especially if you are working with an older foundation and framing. In order to have an accurate weight estimate, you will need to include the weight of the nails used to hold the roof shingles in place.
You May Like: Replacing Roof Trusses
Varying Roof Styles Make The Term Roofing Square More Common
Another reason that you cant always divide square footage by 100 to get the number of square is because every roof shape and style is different
For example, measuring a gable roof is fairly straightforward, but measuring a gambrel or mansard style roof can be a bit more complicated. Waste becomes a major factor when measuring more intricate roofing types like mansard and hipped roofs. Waste happens when shingles need to be cut to fit tight spaces . They are not always nailed in even rows along the roof deck.
With more complex roof types, you quickly realize that not every square foot of measurement is created equal! Overall, the phrase roof square helps bridge the gap for projects both simple and complex.
As long as you have an experienced roofing contractor to work with, you can breathe easy knowing that at the end of the day, the correct amount of materials will get delivered and that your roof installation will go 100% according to plan! You can skip the hassle of measuring your roof, ordering materials, and DIYing the project by hiring Roof Hub. Our guarantees, time-tested processes, and 50 year warranty are just a few of many reasons hundreds of homeowners have trusted us with their #1 asset. If youd like to get started on a roof estimate, click here.
How Big Is A Square Of Shingles
If you are just starting out in roofing and construction, or youre undertaking a DIY roofing project on your home, then youll need to get to grips with the jargon and specialist units of measurement used in this industry.
One term you may have come across already is the common measurement of squares. This is a widely used term to describe how big a roof is and calculate how many shingles you will need to cover the roof. A roofer might refer to this as a roofing square, a square of shingles, or simply a square. Here, we explain the basics of roofing squares, why they are used, and how to calculate a square.
In This Article
Don’t Miss: Shingling A Shed Roof
How Many Nails Required
After you are done calculating the total square footage, you need to determine the number of nails you will need.
Usually 4 nails are used per shingle. As mentioned earlier, shingles come in three tabs, which means you would need around 1,120 nails/sq.
If you live in a high windy area, then you will need 6 nails per shingle, which brings the count to 1,680 nails/sq.
This calculation is based on 280 shingle squares, according to the gable roof measurement. For the right nailing pattern, refer to the instructions that comes with the shingles.
And this is how you measure your roof area and the number of shingles and nails needed. If you are looking for more informatory articles such as this, then visit Epic Home Ideas.
