How Do I Measure My Roof

How to calculate your roof square footage.

How do i measure my roof.

Make sure to document the number of chimneys. Use the step by step guide below to accurately measure your roof and estimate roofing costs. This can make it even safer to do your measuring and it also removes a level of guessing to your calculation. To measure a roof start by measuring the length and width of the building s exterior walls and multiplying them to get the area.

To calculate the size of the roof you need to measure the size of the roof as if it were flat account for roof pitch calculate square footage and finally determine how many squares of material are required for the roof the calculator above can handle all of this simply enter the length width and pitch and it will determine the size of the roof in squares. To begin with you re going to go to the app on your mobile device or you will need to go to google earth on your laptop or desktop computer. Extend it upward so it is perpendicular to the level. After measuring the area of the footprint you can estimate the actual roof area based on the angle of the roof.

First measure 12 inches from one end of the level and make a. Note the vertical distance on the tape measure and write this value down. Knowing the pitch of your roof is useful when designing an addition installing skylights or cutting new rake boards. The google maps area calculator is not 100 accurate.

Then calculate the pitch of the roof by placing a level against it angling the level so the bubble is centered and measuring the distance between the end of the level and the roof. To measure the roof pitch you ll need an 18 or 24 inch level a tape measure and a pencil. Start your free trial. Roof pitch is the measurement of a roof s vertical rise divided by its horizontal run.

First measure the length and width of each surface on the roof then multiply these values to get the square footage of that surface. On your next roofing estimate i suggest that you compare the total square footage number you get by actually measuring a roof to the number you end up with after using these 2 little calculations. Here s an easy safe way to determine the pitch from inside your attic. Similarly if you using the area calculator tool to measure a roof with multiple levels you should do the individual section separately.

Move the tape measure along the the roof until it hits the level at exactly the 12 inch mark. Once you see how surprisingly close the end result numbers are to each other you can then decide whether or not to retire your ladder with confidence. Measure the vertical distance from roof to level. Hold the 0 mark of the tape measure against the roof.

It is often compared to slope but is not exactly the same. The roof area is simply 114x18x2 plus 30x18x2 giving 5184 square feet which is perfectly adequate for estimating materials.