ContractorHandbook

How Many Shingles for a 5,000 Square Foot House?

Roofing squares needed

61.5 squares

A 5,000 square foot footprint, 100 by 50, 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 length100 ft
  • Building width50 ft
  • Roof pitch, rise per 12 in6 /12
  • Waste allowance10 %
  • Ridge length, 0 if unknown100 ft

Roofing squares needed61.5 squares

Footprint area5,000 sq ft
Slope multiplier at 6/121.12 x
Actual roof surface5,590 sq ft
Squares before waste55.9
Squares with 10% waste61.5order to this number

The material list this produces

Shingles, bundles (3 per square)185
Synthetic underlayment, rolls (10 sq each)7
Starter strip, linear ft336
Ridge cap, linear ft100
Drip edge, linear ft300
Roofing nails, lb135

Roof pitch compared

Same house, five pitches.

Roof pitchRoofing squares needed
4/1258 squares
6/1261.5 squares
8/1266.1 squares
10/1271.6 squares
12/1277.8 squares

What else matters here

Five thousand square feet of footprint at 6/12 is 5,590 square feet of roof, 61.5 squares with waste, a hundred and eighty five bundles.

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 a 5,000 sq ft house?

About 185 bundles at a 6/12 pitch with ten percent waste, which is 61.5 squares.

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