How to Calculate Shingles for Roof Repair
Once you have determined that your roof is leaking or that your shingles need replacing, you need to figure out how many will be needed. Doing the actual calculation is very easy, but unfortunately, you will have to get on the roof to do it. Guessing will waste money and you may not guess high enough to finish so it is important to learn the proper way to calculate the materials.
- Get a ladder that will reach high enough to get you on the roof area. Set it firmly and it is a good idea to have a helper while doing this.
- Take a tape measure and obtain the length and width of the area being reshingled. It could be just a damaged area or the entire roof. If the roof is too steep to get on, measure one shingle and multiply to arrive at the width and length.
- Go back down the ladder and store it back where it was. The rest of the calculations can be completed inside the house.
- Multiply length time’s width to arrive at the square footage you will require. Any results you get that are not even round the answer up. This will help to make certain you have enough shingles.
- Figure out how many shingles you will need to cover that square footage. Shingles come in many sizes and are packed differently than roof tiles. Once your know the type you can check on the package and it should tell you what they will cover and how many shingles are actually in the lot.
- Take the total square feet you are repairing and divide by the square foot covered by the area of one new shingle. This will provide the number of shingles it will take to cover the area you are repairing or replacing.