Roofing Calculator

Estimate roofing materials from the building footprint and roof pitch. The calculator returns the sloped roof area, roofing squares, bundles of shingles and rolls of underlayment — with waste allowance built in.

Enter building and roof details

Units
10% typical; 15% for complex roofs with many hips and valleys.

Enter roof dimensions, then press Calculate roofing.

Roofing formulas

Roof pitch multiplier = √(1 + (rise/run)²)

Sloped roof area = footprint area × pitch multiplier

Roofing squares = sloped area ÷ 100 (imperial) or ÷ 9.29 (metric)

Bundles of shingles = roofing squares × 3 (standard 3-tab shingles)

Frequently asked questions

One roofing square equals 100 square feet of roof surface (about 9.29 m²). Roofing materials in North America are sold by the square — a typical asphalt shingle bundle covers 1/3 of a square, so three bundles make one square.

A sloped roof has more surface than the flat footprint it covers — like a ramp has more surface than the ground it stands on. The steeper the pitch, the greater the multiplier. A 5/12 pitch adds about 8% to the footprint; a 12/12 pitch adds about 41%.