how much is a square?

[Boden]

Only if you have flat roof. Multiply your answer by the secant of your roof angle to get the correct answer.

Boden

[SteveB]

In a reserve study for HOAs, the area of the roof is taken from an aerial photo, then 10% is added for pitch. It is a standard, and fairly accurate estimate unless there is a high pitch ratio. For the purposes of estimation, this would be fairly accurate.

Why is it that so many people call estimators and don't get out there themselves with a tape and have an idea before the estimator gets there? YOU go out and measure and come up with 32 squares. One guy comes in at 30, another at 35, another at 40, and another at 45.

What does this tell you?

Simple math, and if you can't handle that, hand calculators are 99 cents now.

Steve

[clare]

Well, for one, a "ranch" is a single story - otherwize known (in many markets) as a bungalow and USUALLY has a relatively low pitch roof. The "typical" ranch has no valleys, but of course there are exceptions.

[clare]

When I had my roof done the last time I told the estimators I wanted

15 lb felt over the whole roof, plus the ice guard and 20 year shingles. Two etimators said I did not want the felt and I told them goodbye. The third said he had not been installing roofing felt for several years but if I was willing to pay for it he would gladly put it on. When I asked why he was not installing it as general practice he said "because everybody is too cheap to pay for it". He said he figured the extra cost of the roofing felt would pay for itself about 4 times over in extended roof life. (I think the roofing felt, installed, raised the cost by about $200)

[Stormin Mormon]

1800 square feet is 18 "square" for roofing. Plus a bit, account of the pitch. 40 square sounds a bit too much.

[Stormin Mormon]

This is what they said.....

Hemos encargado un montón de dinero y hacerlo muy mal trabajo. Que bebemos mucha cerveza y mirar a su mujer. Salimos de un lío y la demanda aún más dinero.

[badgolferman]

Okay, here are the rough calculations.

80' x 40' There is about a foot of overhang front and back. The back slope is constant from the tip to the end with no other angles. The front starts with steeper angle from the top but the slope becomes less acute halfway down. There is one section over the master bedroom that has a different peak than the rest of the house.

[Doug Miller]

You must have a truly huge overhang, or a roof pitch resembling a Swiss chalet, to have an 80x40 = 3200 sf roof over an 1800 sf house.

Go over your figures again.

[Red Green]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Unless it's a raised ranch. Then it's not two or one story. But you're getting 2x sq footage under the roof. But in that case maybe not 2x sq footage of living space because of a garage being under living space of the upper floor.

This is all technocrat info. I read the OP as trying to get his feet wet to get a fair deal and doesn't have a lot of up front knowledge...and that's fine. That's what this NG is about. The info I posted was intended for the OP to look at, ponder and hopefully end up with "Ohhhhhh!, now I see how it works!".

[Red Green]

"badgolferman" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I'm not a pro roofer or even a frequent flyer roofer so I can't picture in my head what you are talking about for the roof. But if it's only 1 floor and 80 by 40, that's 3200 sf. So add say 15% (previously used 20 for the heck of it) for waste and pitch and you have 3200+480...about 37 square. Pretty close to the roofers guess of 40.

How you get your stated 1800 sq ft house under a 40x80 roof is I just cannot envision.

[badgolferman]

I have a two-car garage, three large bedrooms, big kitchen, big living room, converted den on garage level, two bathrooms. City assessment shows 1865 sq. ft. but I don't know if that includes the den and garage or just "livable space". Let's lower the dimensions to 78' x 38' which is probably closer to actual. Regarding the pitch, from the peak to about halfway down it's a steeper angle than it is from halfway down to the eave.

[badgolferman]

Here's a front shot of the house before I bought it:

Look at the right edge and see how the pitch changes.

[Doug Miller]

2-car garage is somewhere around 700 sf. Add that to 1865 sf for the house, and you're still at 2600 sf tops -- really hard to see how it's going to take 4000 sf of shingles to cover that...

"Probably". Meaning you haven't actually measured it. Meaning you're ripe for plucking by any unscrupulous contractor.

I'm trying hard to picture that... and coming to the conclusion that you stated that backwards.

[alta47]

I think that is what is throwing you off. You are looking at the "city assessment" which shows 1865 sq. ft. That doesn't tell you the dimensions of your roof (which is over your porch, garage, overhang, etc). So, forget the 1865 sq. ft. and just use your actual roof dimensions to figure out the number of squares.

[badgolferman]

I got out a tape measure and ran it across the ground. Without someone holding the end it came out to around 78' x 38'

[Michael B]

[Norminn]

78 x 38 is 2964 sq. ft. Using the roofing calculator and a 6/12 slope it gives 37 squares.

[Alta47]

I did understand that you did those measurements. I was just pointing out that you started questioning the 40-square estimate that you received by stating that you only have an 1800 sq. ft. house.

As someone else posted, the real roof measurements that you took (78' x 38') make the 40-square estimate seem reasonable, especially since there is a second peak/ridge line for the peak that you see from the front of the house (based on the photo link you posted). That adds additional square footage to the area of the roof surface.

[Doug Miller]

Not necessarily. That depends on the shingles. A square is 100 sq ft, period. A bundle is usually 33.33 sq ft, but not always.