How To Determine The Amount Of Shingles You Need For Your Roof

Determining how much material you need is always the first step in any construction project. It helps you keep everything on track and avoid the frustration of running out of materials halfway through. The same is true for shingles as well. So, how do you determine how many shingles you need for your roof? Well, it all depends on the size of your roof. Getting an accurate measurement of your roof size is the first thing you need to do before you order any roofing material for your home. You will need to do this in square feet, as that is the most commonly used unit of measurement in construction projects. Once you have this figure, you can order the right amount and begin constructing your roof. Just remember to request a little extra to account for any waste.

Also, before you begin, make sure you have all the right tools. For instance, you will need a 100-foot tape measure to take roof dimensions, a sturdy ladder to climb onto the roof, a pen and paper to take notes, and a calculator for some simple calculations. In addition, it is also a good idea to have some basic protective gear to keep yourself safe. Also, depending on your roof, you will need to consider its shape, pitch, and slope as well. If all of this, however, sounds too complex, you can always try hiring a professional to get the job done. Just make sure you know the right questions to ask your roofing contractor.

Start by carefully analyzing your roof structure and dividing it into sections. You will also need to consider the shape of each section, because that changes how you determine its area. For instance, with square and rectangular shapes, all you need to do is multiply the length by the width, and that is it, but if the roof is triangular, that changes things. Now, in order to measure the area of your roof, you first have to measure the length of the bottom edge of the triangle and then the height of the triangle from one corner to the peak. Then you will have to multiply both measurements and divide the product by two to get the area. Likewise, for other shapes, the way you determine the area will change what measurements you need. Don't worry, though. You can easily calculate areas for any shape online.

In some cases, you might also need to account for the roof pitch. It doesn't affect the roof area much, but it is still a necessary calculation. Roof pitch is measured in terms of how many inches the roof rises for every 12 inches of distance. For instance, a 4:12 roof rises 4 inches for every foot, whereas a 9:12 roof rises 9 inches and is relatively steeper. You will need to use a pitch multiplier to account for this. You can easily find roof pitch multiplier charts online. Nevertheless, once you know the pitch of your roof, just multiply the relevant pitch multiplier by the total area, and that will give you the total surface area of your roof.

In addition to the basic measurements of area, finalizing roofing shingle estimates also requires accounting for a strategic buffer for waste. Just like many other popular roofing materials, the process of installing shingles involves a lot of trimming and overlapping. For most roofs, a 10 to 15% waste factor to the total calculated area is more than enough. However, for complex roof designs, you will need to increase the waste factor to about 20%. That is because complex roof designs often have multiple valleys and hips that require extensive cutting to make sure that the shingles align with architectural angles.

It is also important to understand here that, even though area is most often calculated in square feet, roof area is frequently expressed in terms of roofing squares. And that is also the terminology most commonly used by construction material suppliers. Don't worry, though; it is pretty easy to calculate. All you need to do is divide the total area of your roof in square feet by 100, and that is it. It is just something that makes the construction process simpler and calculations more manageable.

Lastly, keep in mind that shingles come in bundles, and each bundle covers an area of about 33 square feet. So, if your roof is about 3,300 square feet, you will need about 100 bundles of shingles. Roof pitch, complex roof design, and the waste factor will obviously change this number, and you may want to check your calculations twice before installing a new shingle roof on your home.