How to Estimate Shingle Roofing
Shingles are an integral part of roofing and building a home. Shingles are sold in squares that equate to 100 square feet. Whether you're roofing an entire building or replacing weathered or missing shingles, it's important to determine the square footage of the area in question. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Climb up the ladder to your roof. Using the tape measure, determine the amount of roof space to which you will be applying shingles. Measure the length and width of the space, and write down this information on a piece of paper.
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Draw an outline of your roof, and highlight the area you will be shingling. Calculate the square footage by multiplying the length of the roof by the width of the roof. For example, if the length is 20 feet and the width is 10 feet, that's 200 square feet. If you have a roof that is not simply a rectangle, you will need another approach to calculating the square footage. Divide the roof into sections in which you can measure the width and length to determine the square footage of each section. You can measure the square footage of triangles by multiplying the two lengths that meet at the right angle, then dividing by two. Estimate how many shingles you will need for hips and ridges. Add all of your totals together. You may not have the exact roof area calculation, but it will be close enough to determine how many squares of shingles you should order.
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Take into account that you will need extra shingles for obstacles such as chimneys or walls where you will have to cut shingles. Cutting errors may happen as well. There's a good chance there will also be damaged shingles. It's best to be safe and add an additional one percent to your shingle order for simple roofs and up to five percent for more elaborate roofs.
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Decide what type of shingles you will be using, and write down the cost per square for that type of shingle. Divide the square footage of your roof by 100, rounding up to the nearest whole number, and multiply by the cost of each square of shingles. Example: If you have a 175 square foot area, you will need two squares of shingles.
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