ContractorHandbook

How Many Shingles for a 1,800 Square Foot House?

Roofing squares needed

22.1 squares

An 1,800 square foot footprint, 60 by 30, at a 6/12 pitch with ten percent waste.

It does not stop at a number.

When the figures look right, the roofing material list downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.

12 in of runrise, inrafter linefootprintroof surfacefootprint x slope multiplier / 100 = squares
A roof is always bigger than the house under it, and how much bigger is right angle geometry rather than an allowance. Square the rise, add 144, take the root, divide by 12, and that multiplier turns a footprint into real surface area before any waste is added.

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.

  • Building length60 ft
  • Building width30 ft
  • Roof pitch, rise per 12 in6 /12
  • Waste allowance10 %
  • Ridge length, 0 if unknown60 ft

Roofing squares needed22.1 squares

Footprint area1,800 sq ft
Slope multiplier at 6/121.12 x
Actual roof surface2,012 sq ft
Squares before waste20.1
Squares with 10% waste22.1order to this number

The material list this produces

Shingles, bundles (3 per square)67
Synthetic underlayment, rolls (10 sq each)3
Starter strip, linear ft204
Ridge cap, linear ft60
Drip edge, linear ft180
Roofing nails, lb49

Roof pitch compared

Same house, five pitches.

Roof pitchRoofing squares needed
4/1220.9 squares
6/1222.1 squares
8/1223.8 squares
10/1225.8 squares
12/1228 squares

What else matters here

Eighteen hundred square feet of footprint at 6/12 is 2,012 square feet of roof, 22.1 squares with waste, sixty seven bundles.

The list calls for three rolls of synthetic underlayment at ten squares each.

What this calculator assumes

  • Footprint times the slope multiplier gives the actual roof surface. A 6/12 roof is 11.8 percent larger than the ground it covers, which is the number most people forget.
  • Three bundles per square is standard for both three tab and architectural shingles. Check your brand, a few premium lines run four.
  • Synthetic underlayment is figured at 10 squares per roll, starter and ridge cap at one linear foot per foot.

Questions people ask

How many bundles of shingles for an 1,800 sq ft house?

About 67 bundles at a 6/12 pitch with ten percent waste, which is 22.1 squares.

How many rolls of underlayment do I need?

One roll per ten squares of synthetic, which is what the calculator assumes, so a 22 square roof takes three. Check the roll, because coverage varies by product.

Different numbers?

The roofing calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.

Other common sizes

13 more sizes are answered on the roofing calculator page