How To Calculate The Number Of Roof Shingles You’ll Need

Before you start the calculation, you need to be aware that shingles are sold by the square and by the bundle. A square of shingles will be the amount needed to cover an area of 100 square feet. The shingle bundles will be plastic or paper-wrapped bundles that are made to be light enough for a single person to carry. This means that if you are going to be using heavier shingles, you will need to have more bundles to cover each square foot.

It is common to use 3 bundles to a square of shingles. However, if you are using heavier shingles, you will require 4 to 5 bundles for a square. When you are using 3 bundles for a square, you will be getting 29 standard shingles in each bundle.

How You Get Shingles

When you are replacing your roof, you need to calculate the number of roof shingles you need. There is nothing worse than being short on shingles because you will only realize this close to the end of your project. Of course, there are some measurements which will need to be taken before you are able to calculate the number of roof shingles that you need.

The Measurement Method

To calculate the number of squares or bundles you need, you should consider using the measurement method. This method is considered the most accurate, but you will need to get onto your roof to complete it. The problem is that your roof might be too steep for you to walk on it without the correct equipment. This equipment is something that most people will not have at home, but there are ways to get around this.

If you do not have any safety equipment, you will need to use a ladder to get one measurement while the others can be made on the ground. Of course, this will be assuming that your home is rectangular. When using this method, you will need to measure the rake of the roof while standing on a ladder. This is the length from the peak of the roof to the edge where our ladder will be sitting.

After this, you will need to measure the length of the building from the ground. At this point, you will also need to estimate or measure the overhang if you have one. This overhand measurement will need to be added to the measurement of the building. Once you have these measurements, you will need to calculate the area of the roof and then you can see how many shingles you will need.

The Shingle Count Method

Of the old shingles have not been removed from the roof, you can easily use this method to calculate the number of shingles you are going to need. To use this method, you will need to measure the length of the eaves on each of the roof planes. This can be done from the ground by taking the measurement of the length of the house and adding the length of the overhangs to it. If the existing shingles are standard 3-tab shingles, you can get this measurement by taking note of the number of tabs along the eaves and ridges then determine the length in feet. To do this you need to note that one tab will be equal to 1 foot.

You will then have to get the measurement of the rake of the roof. You can get this by counting the shingle courses from the ridge to the eaves. It is important to note that each course will have an exposure of 5 inches so you will need to times the number of shingle courses by the number 5 and divide the number by 12 to calculate the measurement of the rakes. Once you have this length, you will need to multiply it be the length of the eaves to get the area of the roof.

Additional Shingles

When you order the shingles, it is recommended that you order more than you will need. This will give you some leeway for breakage and any other form of shingle waste. Most roofers will recommend adding 1% to the number of shingles you get to account for the waste. If you have a more complex roof, you should look at adding around 5%.

Also learn more about the cost of a new roof.