A roofing project requires a serious investment of time and cold hard cash whether you are just changing the shingles or changing the whole roof. However, the cost of roofing materials can differ from their quality to their size. This means you must not miscalculate anything during the installation process.

You must survey your roof before you start any roofing project. If you plan to hire a professional roofer to measure the roof, you can go diving the roofing measurements into different parts. We will be explaining the different roofs depending on the slope, pitch, and overall square footage.

Estimating Shingles and Square Footage

If you have made up a plan to re-do your shingles, then you must first need to consider how many shingles you would need. For this, you must assess the size of your roof by taking the measurements and calculating the surface roof area.

For this, you can hire a roofing team that will start by evaluating the whole size of your roof and by adding any dormers. They can multiply the entire length of the roof with the width to get the exact square foot area of the roof. In the end, tally the roof’s full square footage by summing the square footage of each plane together.

Every roof measurement is done in the form of a square and you will need to find out the number of squares present in a single roof so that you would know the number of shingles needed. For example, if you have a gable roof that is almost 24,000 square feet means you can divide the entire square footage by 100. This means you will need 240 square shingles to cover the whole roof.

Get to Know Slope

You must know the extent of the slope of the roof while surveying it. There are different types of slopes for different roofs.  For example, the slope of a gable roof will look very different from the slope of an A-frame roof or Bonnet roof. The slope of the roof is also called a pitch.  The slope or pitch is ascertained by the perpendicular rise in inches for every horizontal 12-inch length of the run.

To measure the slope, either hire a professional or do it yourself by calculating the exact vertical rise of the roof over the horizontal distance. The vertical rise is measured in inches as well. If the ascent of the roof is 4 inches that means your roof slope is 4-in-12 in measurement. Roof slopes or pitches are essentially always detailed with the vertical rise disclosed first and the horizontal run brought up after.

Measuring Steep Roofs

Two types of roofs are usually steep, for example, A-frame and gable roofs.  For this very reason, measuring these kinds of roofs requires different computing techniques. To measure steep roofs, the roof length needs to be calculated first. The external walls are computed plus the overhang for the length to the lateral ridge of the residence. Once this is done, a cable is lobbed over the ridge to identify each eave of the steep roof. This helps in calculating the overall estimate of the area along with its different dimensions. This is done on each roof section that has a horizontal ridge.

What Tools Are Needed to Measure a Roof?

You would require simple tools to measure the roof. Usually, it includes:

  • Measuring Tape
  • Ladder
  • Calculator
  • Pen/pencil
  • Paper
  • Level

If you have these tools, you would be able to measure the tentative estimate of the whole roof regarding the pitch and overall slope.

Should I Measure My Roof?

You might feel excited to measure the roof, but it is always best if you let the professionals do this job for you. They can perform this task quickly and with great accuracy. As the weather conditions are not welcoming, the safety of your home and yours is important which is why you must let the professionals roofing company in Highlands, TX do their job.

For more information, contact Sugar Land Premier Roofing at 832-621-4770. We service areas in Sugar Land, Katy, and River Oak, TX.