How Many Sheets of Plywood for 1,000 Square Feet?
Sheets to buy
35 sheets
1,000 square feet of roof sheathing, rafters 16 in on center, ten percent waste.
When the figures look right, the sheathing material list downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.
How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Length of the area125 ft
- Width or height8 ft
- What it is forRoof sheathing
- Framing spacing16 in on center
- Openings to deduct0 sq ft
- Waste allowance10 %
Sheets to buy35 sheets
| Gross area | 1,000 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Openings deducted | 0 sq ft |
| Net area | 1,000 sq ft |
| One sheet covers | 32 sq ft4 by 8 |
| Sheets before waste | 31.25 |
| Squares | 103.125 sheets per square |
| Nails per sheet | 646 in edges, 12 in field at 16 in spacing |
| Nails in total | 2,24022.4 lb of 8d common |
| H clips | nonenot needed below 19.2 in spacing |
| Underlayment | 1,100 sq ftten percent for laps |
The material list this produces
| Sheathing, 4x8 sheets | 35 |
|---|---|
| 8d nails, lb | 23 |
| Roofing underlayment, sq ft | 1,100 |
Roof area compared
The same roof sheathing question at every common area. The middle column is squares, the unit roofing is actually sold in, and one square is a hundred square feet.
| Roof area | Sheets to buy | Squares | Underlayment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 800 sq ft | 28 sheets | 8 | 880 sq ft |
| 1,000 sq ft | 35 sheets | 10 | 1,100 sq ft |
| 1,200 sq ft | 42 sheets | 12 | 1,320 sq ft |
| 1,400 sq ft | 49 sheets | 14 | 1,540 sq ft |
| 1,500 sq ft | 52 sheets | 15 | 1,650 sq ft |
| 1,600 sq ft | 55 sheets | 16 | 1,760 sq ft |
| 2,000 sq ft | 69 sheets | 20 | 2,200 sq ft |
What else matters here
Thirty five sheets, and 1,000 square feet is exactly 10 squares. A square is a hundred square feet and it is the unit roofing is genuinely sold and quoted in, so it is worth carrying both numbers.
There is a trap in the number itself. A thousand square feet of ROOF is not a thousand square feet of house. A roof is a slope, so its area is always larger than the footprint underneath it, and how much larger depends entirely on the pitch. Measuring the house and ordering sheathing off that figure under orders the roof, and the shortfall grows with the pitch.
So get the roof area from the roof rather than from the plan: the rafter length times the ridge length, doubled for both sides, plus every dormer and overhang. The pitch multiplier on this site's roof pitch calculator does the same job from a footprint and a pitch. Either way the number that belongs in this calculator is the sloped area, and 1,000 square feet of it is these 35 sheets.
What this calculator assumes
- A sheet is 4 by 8, which is 32 square feet, so three and an eighth sheets cover a square.
- Openings come off in full here, not at half. A window hole in a sheathed wall is a real hole and the offcut around it is what the waste line is for.
- The nail count is the fastener schedule rather than a rule of thumb: six inches around every edge and twelve inches into the framing in the field, so a sheet at 16 inch spacing takes 64 nails and one at 24 inch spacing takes 56. Eight penny common runs about 100 nails to the pound.
- Subfloor adhesive is figured on the linear feet of joist under the sheets, at about 84 feet of quarter inch bead from a 28 ounce tube, which is the size subfloor adhesive actually comes in.
- Roof sheathing wants H clips in each bay along the unsupported joint between rafters, which is four per sheet at 24 inches on center. At 16 inches most panel thicknesses do not need them, so the list leaves them off below 19.2 inch spacing.
- A subfloor gets screwed rather than nailed on most jobs, so the list carries the same fastener count in number eight screws at about ninety five to the pound and leaves the nail line under it as the alternative. Only one of those two lines gets bought.
- Thickness does not change the count, only the price and the span rating. Check the panel span rating against your framing spacing before you buy the thin one.
Questions people ask
How many sheets of plywood cover 1,000 square feet?
35 sheets of 4x8 plywood, including a ten percent waste allowance. That is exactly 10 roofing squares.
What is a square in roofing?
One hundred square feet. It is the unit roofing material is quoted and sold in, so 1,000 square feet of roof is 10 squares.
Is roof area the same as house footprint?
No, and this is the common error. A roof is a slope, so its area is always bigger than the footprint, and how much bigger depends on the pitch. Order off the sloped area, not off the plan.
The plywood calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.