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Whether you’re renovating your home or buying shingles for a new home, it’s important to understand that a successful roofing project often requires a significant investment of time and money. When you start buying materials, you may be wondering how to measure a tile roof. After all, roofing materials vary greatly in cost and are indicated per square meter. To determine the size of your roof, ask a roofing professional to measure and estimate the roof’s structure. In this article, I will discuss how to measure a roof for shingles.
How to Measure a Roof for Shingles
If you are considering installing shingles on the roof framing plan of your home, you need to think about something other than the type of material you are using. Roof size is the most important factor in the roof’s length and cost, and unfortunately, many homeowners are unsure of the exact square footage of their roof. However, measuring your roof is not that difficult and can be done in a relatively short time.
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 you’ll 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, it’s time to go upstairs and start measuring.
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Walk to your roof and measure physically.
Once you’re on the roof, it’s time to check out the map and tape measure so you can get started. Carefully measure the length and width of all sections of the roof, paying special attention to the dimensions in the corresponding sections of the diagram. If your roof has triangular sections, such as a cornice, it is important to measure these as well, as they must also be shingles. Once you’re done measuring the entire steep roof, it’s time to lower the ladder and use the measurements effectively. Finally, increase the total by 15% to account for any waste.
Use measurements to calculate square area.
The last step in measuring a shingle roof is probably the easiest, as you are only using the measurements to calculate the squared area of the roof. For each roof section, you measured, multiply the length by the width, which gives you the squared area of that section. If you don’t want to do a lot of measuring, you can use your pitch calculation to get the estimated square footage of your roof: Once you have your roof’s pitch, divide the number by 12. Then add up the square footage of each section to get the total square footage of the roof. Although roofing projects are estimated and sold by the square, roofing material is often not sold in 1 square increment.
Finally, divide the total square footage by one hundred, and you get the number of squares of shingles you need to cover the roof and increase your estimation by at least 5%.
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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, it’s best to hire a professional contractor to measure your shingles and the best experts.
How to Calculate the Required Shingle Area
The calculated areas will help you estimate the material you will need, but to calculate the shingle needed for your beginner course, all you need to do is add linear feet to the eaves and divide the result by the length shingle. Multiply your total area by 1.05 to increase it by 5%. This will allow you to calculate the required area of the shingle and Add 10% to your total for trim allowances. Bituminous shingles are available in different sizes; therefore, you should be sure what type of shingle you want to use before calculating. Here are some features of the shapes of the shingle.
- You have two options for shingles; use pre-cut shingles or shingles with three grooves. Both are fine; you can use them all. However, they do not have the same coverage. The three-layer shingle occupies about 33 linear feet from the hip or top, and the pre-cut shingle takes up relatively more space. To allow for hips, ridges, and waste, add 10% of your final number for a gable roof and 17% of your final number for a cottage roof.
- Please note that some shingle packs offer 3 packs per square and some packs offer 4 or more packs per square meter. It is better to use fewer packages.
- Buy extra shingles if you lose them, but keep them in a suitable place so they can be returned when not in use.
- In the US, shingles are typically sold in packs of 100 square feet; so if you use shingles of this shape, you need to divide the entire roof area by 100, and you will get the required amount of shingles for the roof.
How to Measure a Roof for Shingles: FAQs
How do I calculate the size of my roof?
Multiply the length of the house by the width to get the area, for example, 40 feet x 30 feet = 1200 square feet.) Then multiply the area by the slope of the roof. (1200 x 1.05 = 1260 square meters.)
How many shingles do I need on my computer?
To estimate how many shingles you will need, first estimate the total roof area. To do this, measure the length and width of each steep roof, including skylights. Then multiply the length by the width to get a square image of each face.
How many square meters does a shingle package cover?
The number of packs needed is easy to calculate if you use shingles with three packs in a square. The area of each parcel is 33.3 m².
How many square meters does my rooftop computer take up?
To estimate how many shingles you will need, first estimate the total roof plane. To do this, measure the length and width of each roof deck, including skylights. Then multiply the length by the width to get a square image of each face.
What is the average roof size?
Multiply the length of the house by the width to get the area, for example, 40 feet x 30 feet = 1200 square feet.) Then multiply the area by the slope of the roof. (1200 x 1.05 = 1260 square meters.)
How many bundles of shingles do I need per 100 square feet?
Asphalt shingles are usually packaged with this in mind, but it will be too difficult to handle if a single shingle package covers a full 100 square feet. So the most popular shingles are sold so that it takes three packs to cover a square of the roof surface.
How many shingles do I need for 2,000 square feet?
The number of packs or squares required will depend on your roof area or slope. For example, a 2000 square foot roof would require 20 squares or 60 packs. The roofing professional will likely purchase more materials than necessary to get additional materials if needed. Account for about 5-10% overage on your project to ensure you have enough material if measurements are a little off or material is wasted or damaged.
How many bundles of shingles do you need for 30 squares?
The number of packs needed is easy to calculate if you use shingles with three packs in a square. Each package covers a roof area of 33.3 square meters, which is close enough to 32 square meters.
Does the square footage of the house match the roof?
So the trick to estimating the size of your roof is to multiply the square footage of your home by 1.5 (for example, a 2,000-square-foot house has a roof of about 3,000 square feet).
How many shingles are there in a roof package?
What you need to know is that the square contains three packs. A pack contains 29 standard-size shingles. Please note that the standard shingle size is 12″ x 36″.
Conclusion
The entire process consists of four parts – slope measurement, roof measurement, surface calculation, and final work – to calculate required shingles – roof replacement. Please patiently try to take all measurements to get the most accurate calculation of shingles and other materials needed. Hope you have learned how to measure a roof for shingles.
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