How To Calculate How Many Squares A Roof Is

How Many Nails Will You Need

Nails will also be required for any roofing project. The average 3-tab shingle needs four nails per shingle. High wind areas and other types of shingles may need more. 320 nails will be needed to install a square of standard 3-tab shingles, assuming four nails per shingle and 80 shingles per square.

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 Much Does A Square Of Roofing Cost

The most frequent application for the term square throughout the roofing industry is in regard to pricing and ordering bundles of shingles, so it makes sense to cover the how much a square of roofing costs on average.

In the interest of time, well use the state of Massachusetts as our example. Massachusetts roofers price their projects between $5 and $9 per square foot. We can convert cost per square foot to cost per square by multiplying the original number by 100. So in Boston, Massachusetts and the surrounding area, the cost of a square of roofing is between $500 and $900.

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Which Is Better Roofing Nails Or Staples

Fasteners for asphalt shingles should be roofing nails or staples. The head of a roofing nail or the crown of a staple is what actually holds a shingle in place. If staples are properly installed, they offer nearly the same wind resistance as nails. The problem with staples is the orientation of the staple crown.

Roofing: Calculate The Number Of Shingles

Roofing is a very important part of your house because it protects it from water. Without a watertight room water would be allowed to enter and stream down the walls in your house. It’s essential that the roof is in the very best condition.

Pitched roofs are commonly weatherproofed by using shingles, and these are arranged so that they overlap one another. It’s important that you have the right number of shingles on your roof, because if you have too few then it won’t be waterproof. You will then need to go back to the store a second time to buy more. Ordering too many roofing shingles will waste money.

There are a number of calculations that you can use to work out exactly how many shingles you need to correctly cover your roof. These calculations aren’t scary because you don’t need to worry about anything you learned in school.

Step 1 – Calculating the Square Footage

The first thing that you will need to do is work out the size of your roof in square feet. This is very easy, as it’s simply a matter of measuring the length and height of the room. Multiply the length and height of the roof together to work out the number of square feet that you need to cover. Remember to work out the total square footage around the whole of your house. For a simple room this will be very easy. However for larger, more complicated shapes you will need to work slowly.

Step 2 – Working out Number of Squares

Step 3 – Work out Number of Bundles

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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:

Draw Each Shape Individually Calculate Each Area And The Total Square Footage Of Your Roof

Now we have eight shapes to find the area of six triangles and two rectangles. Instead of breaking out the old textbooks to calculate triangle areas, we like to use a triangle calculator. It makes figuring out the area of triangles a lot simpler.

In the example above, we have two triangles with sides of 30, 20, and 20 feet. Pop those figures in the three-sides calculator and youll get an area of 198. Since we have two of those triangles, multiply by 2 for a running total of 396 square feet.

We have four remaining triangles, all with dimensions of 15, 20, and 25 feet. That same calculator reveals a result of 150 square feet. Since there are four of those triangles, multiply by 4 to get 600 square feet.

Lastly, we have two rectangles of 15 by 30 feet. This one is easy, just width times height for a total of 450 square feet for each one. Multiply by 2 and their total square footage is 900.

Adding all the areas up yields a total of 1896 square feet . Since roofing material comes in 100 square foot squares, youll need at least 19 of them for your roofing project. Itd be wise to get at least 20 to account for mistakes and waste.

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Roof Area Calculation Guide

All you need to do is to follow some steps

• Divide your roof pitch by 12. It means roof pitch is the inches in a change of height over the distance of one foot. Dividing by 12 will give you the ratio of inches rising every distance. For instance, the standard roof pitch is about 4. Hence for the pitch angle of 4, divide it by 12

• Square your result of step 1, and so keeping with the roof pitch angle of 4, it gives 1/9.

• Add one and then square root it. Adding one to the 1/9 will give you 10/9, and the square root of 10/9 will give 1.0541.

• Multiply by the square footage of the single house floor. Let us continue the example if you have a two-floor house having a total square foot of 2700 square feet. It means each floor has 1350 square feet, so multiply 1350 by 1.0541 for getting the result of 1423 square feet. Thus, you will need 1423 square feet of roofing.

However, this is a simple concept that you have to keep in mind. Let us start briefing steps to calculate the area of the roof from scratch.

Calculating Number Of Roofing Nails To Buy

I am putting on tar paper and then a single layer of 25 year 3 tab shingles onto my shed. It has 1/2 inche plywood sheething.

What length of nail do I use?

How many nails do I buy?

Shed is 10 X 10 , Pitch is 5/12

IF your talking gun nails then one box will do approx. 18 sq. and 1 1/4 for lenght will be fine. hand bangs Probley 10lbs and 1 1/2.

Personally i like 1 1/2 to hand nail because there a little bigger and easier to hold and nail.

4-5 nails per shingle. one box of coil. or 10 #s of hand nails . 1 1/4 is ok

about 400 1 1/4 nails,3-tab specs call for 320 per sq. walkable pitch,add another 156 nails for 6 nailing if it`s a high wind area,and approx.50 more for capping if necessary5-6 coils if gun nailing and a couple handfuls of handnails for the paper

I am hand nailing. 4 nails per shingle. The sheathing is half an inch. Add the shingle plus tar paper. If I were to use a longer nail than one inch, it would go through the roof and I would see it inside of my shed. Which is 8 feet tall and I wouldnt hit my head on the nails but still it would look s h i t t y if nails were sticking out of the ceiling.

Thanks e v e r y b o d y

carpenterology just broke it down for lefty?

who is this carpenterology?

doin the nail length and all like that.

freaky.

Thanks e v e r y b o d y

Which is shittier? Nails penetrating the sheathing like their supposed to, or shingles laying in the yard after a wind storm?

Soomeone please confirm this???*

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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.

Most Common Roofing Nail Materials

The metal a nail is made from can make all the difference not only in how well it holds down a shingle, but also how long it lasts over time. The most common types of roofing nails are made from aluminum, stainless steel, galvanized steel, and copper. We do not recommend all of these types, but that doesnt stop some contractors from using them.

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Calculate The Simple Roof Areas

On a simple hip or gable roof, multiplying the eave to ridge length by eave length will give the area to be multiplied by pitch factor. Ridge vent openings are best finished with coil rather than partial shingle. Using flat coil stock allows the ridge caps to lay flat and can also be formed with an extra water stop at the ridge opening.

Area for the roof in Figure 3 is 1784 ft2 The blue dash line divides the roof into 2 rectangles. There is a small area calculated as 8/12 that is actually 4/12. On a small area such as this, it is better to err on the side of the higher pitch since it should not significantly affect the total.

Pro Tip: Pythagorean Theorem can be used to calculate the length of the valleys. A general rule of thumb is to add at least 12 lineal inches of valley material to be safe.

Figure 3. Calculating Simple Roof Areas

Calculate The Square Footage Of The Roof Area With The Roof Pitch And Base Area

Find your roof pitch from the first step in the following table and multiply the amount you just got by the corresponding roof pitch multiplier. The result is the total roof square footage youll need to get roofing material for.

In our example, the roof pitch was 6/12. The pitch multiplier would be 1.118. So, take the 2100 square feet, multiplied by 1.118 to get 2347 square feet of roofing material. Since roofing material like shingles come in squares of 100 square feet apiece, wed need at least 24 of them. If you have a relatively flat roof , you can simply avoid using a pitch multiplier and make sure to round up on your equipment estimate.

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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

• How many Roofing Nails in a Square of Shingles?

One: Get Up On Your Roof Safely And Take Initial Measurements

Sketch out the shape of your roof on graph paper. In this example, youd only need to measure overall width and length, the central ridge, and one of the hips . If you have a more complex roof shape with dormers, take all the measurements you can and prepare to use your eraser to refine the image of your overall roof structure. Make sure you have solid footing and if possible, use fall protection to keep yourself safe. Be mindful of hazards like ridge vents. Note the lengths in feet:

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Below, there is a simple triangle, and the math used to work out how to make a proper measurement. Once you work through the basic triangle, we will review a typical roof, and how to apply some simple math to calculate how much material you will need for a roof used in our hypothetical example.

1 roof square = 100 square feet The length times the height of a triangle is twice its area . So if you divide your answer of a product of length times height by two, you will get the area of a triangle. /2 = Area

In Figure above: l=30 feet h=12 feet /2 = 180 square feet

Now that the basic concept has been covered, lets take a look at a more complex roofing system. In this overhead view you see both a hip-end section, and gable ends. With a more complex roof such is this one, it is highly recommended that you make a basic sketch. By doing so, it will be easier to mark your measurements, and calculate the necessary materials for the project. For this example we will break this roof up into sections labeled A through E.

In the figure B. above, a sketched portion is a basic triangle. As we did in the first example, measure the length of the eaves, and the vertical line from the eaves half way point to the peak. Multiply these numbers, and then divide the answer by two./2 = 270 square feet

S1 = /2 = 135 square feetS2 = 50 × 15 = 750 square feetS3 = /2 = 135 square feet

The Type Of Roof You Want

The type of roof you want will have a big impact on the cost of your roof replacement. There are a variety of different types of roofs for you to choose from based on your budget and the look you want.

If youre on a tight budget and looking for an affordable roof, an asphalt shingle roof might be right for you. But if youre looking to upgrade to a longer-lasting and sharp looking roof, theres the standing seam metal roof.

Asphalt and metal are two of the most commonly seen roof types, but there are also premium shingle roofs that come at a premium price. These roofs give you a unique look that really stands out. These premium roofs include cedar shake, slate, and tile.

The premium shingle roofs can get expensive quickly and be more than triple the cost of an asphalt shingle roof.

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Shingle Weight Per Square Comparison

The weight of the bundle is decided by the type and quality of the . Three-tab shingles are lighter than architectural shingles, and slate tiles are usually the heaviest type. The quality of the shingle can also influence its weighta 30-year shingle is heavier than a 20-year shingle. A square of shingles is 100 square feet, and we will use the weight for a 1500 square ft. roof.

By: Author Ryan M.

The number of roofing nails per square depends on the size and type of shingle being nailed.

The most common sizes for residential applications are three inch and four inch, with three-inch being the most widely used.

Newer products often require different specifications.

New roofers often make the mistake of thinking that they need to put three nails per shingle, when it is more like two nails every other row .

There are many variables that affect the number of nails needed to complete any given roofing job.

This article will help you decide how many nails per square foot your project needs, and what other factors may need to be considered when determining nail quantity.

What Is A Roofing Square How Big Is A Square Of Shingles

A common question we get at Roofing Solutions is to define the term roofing square.

Whats a roofing square? How big? In feet? In yards?

In the roofing industry, the term square is unique. It does not refer to squared feet. Nor does it refer to squared yards.

Instead, a square is a term of measurement all its own. One roofing square is equal to 100 square feet.

So, in a sense, were talking about square feet, but using this unit makes it easier to calculate the footage or required materials and cost of a roofing project.

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