Before roofing is measured, it is important to know a few basics about it. Roofs are simply measured in squares. When measuring the area, try to be as accurate as possible, because any short or over estimating may lead to a difference of a huge amount of money.
Factors to be considered
While making an estimation, you need to keep a few things in mind, the materials, the surface area of the roof, which is in roof square (1 roof square is equal to 100 square feet.) and other complexities related to the roof. It is important to understand that the total of estimation will be 10% higher or lower than the average size of the roof so you need to check your footage measurement for that.
It is also very important to understand that the materials cost is only about 40% of the total cost of roofing, as the installation cost, which is also called labor, is 60% of the total cost and depends upon the materials of the roofing that you are getting.
Calculation of materials
For the accurate estimation of the roofing materials, first you need to measure the roof square area of the surface. It is done by measuring the width and the length of roof plane/s including the dormers. Then these measurements are multiplied, and the result is the square footage of each plane. These square footage of all the planes are added in the end to get the total square footage.
Measurement of roof surface is done in squares which consist of 100 square feet. The measurement of a square foot is done by dividing the total are in square feet by 100, and the resultant is the square area of the materials required for the roof. The roofing materials normally come in squares as well and are calculated on the same basis. Do not forget to add a 10% of total material for the wastage and the trimming, etc. If there are still anything remained unquestioned about the material estimation, contact Roof installation Southgate Michigan and you will get a perfect estimation.
Do not forget the nails.
While estimating the material, do not forget the number of nails that will be required. A general estimation rule is to count 4 nails per shingle, and in case of three-tab shingles, 320 nails are estimated for 1 square. In the windy areas, it recommended having 6 nails per shingle which adds the total number of nails up to 420 nails per square if 80 shingles are installed per square.
This may vary for other types of shingles as more or less nails may require depending on the shingle type. Nails are sold on pound basis so to find the correct number of nails per pound, you may contact the dealer and ask him by specifying the area and the length of the nail. You may also consult with the instructions that come with the shingle wrappers for the right nailing outline. You can get to a very accurate quote by knowing the number of accessories and materials needed for roofing.