Free tool
Shingle Calculator: Roof Squares and Bundles
How many squares and bundles your roof needs, with waste, starter and ridge cap counted.
This shingle calculator tells you how many roofing squares and bundles of shingles a roof needs. Enter the footprint of the house and the pitch, and it adds the slope, the waste for cuts and the extra for starter and ridge. Most architectural shingles come 3 bundles to a square, so that is the default here. If you would rather have someone measure it for you, we do it free as part of a roof inspection in Minot.
Shingle and roof square calculator
You need about
0 bundles
Ridge cap and starter strip are usually sold as separate products. Check the wrapper for the exact coverage of the shingle line you buy.
How many bundles of shingles are in a square?
A roofing square is 100 square feet of roof surface. Most architectural shingles are packed 3 bundles to a square, so each bundle covers about 33 square feet. A few heavier designer lines need 4 bundles per square. The calculator lets you pick either one.
How the roof square calculator works
Your roof has more surface than the ground under it, because it slopes. The calculator takes your footprint (length times width, including the overhangs) and multiplies it by a pitch factor. A 6/12 roof has a factor of about 1.118, so a 1,920 square foot footprint becomes roughly 2,147 square feet of roof, or about 21.5 squares.
| Pitch | Pitch factor | Footprint 1,800 sq ft becomes |
|---|---|---|
| 4/12 | 1.054 | about 19 squares |
| 6/12 | 1.118 | about 20 squares |
| 8/12 | 1.202 | about 21.6 squares |
| 10/12 | 1.302 | about 23.4 squares |
| 12/12 | 1.414 | about 25.5 squares |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Not sure of your pitch? Use our roof pitch calculator with a level and a tape measure.
Why you add waste
Every valley, hip and dormer means cut shingles, and the offcuts are not usable. A plain gable roof wastes about 10 percent. A hip roof or a roof with a few valleys is closer to 15 percent. A cut-up roof with dormers can reach 20 percent. Running short in the middle of a tear-off is worse than returning a bundle, so round up.
What the bundle count does not include
- Starter strip along every eave and rake edge.
- Ridge cap for ridges and hips, sold by the bundle in linear feet.
- Ice and water shield at the eaves and valleys. In Minot we run it past the interior wall line, not just to code minimum.
- Synthetic underlayment over the rest of the deck.
- Drip edge, flashing, pipe boots and vents.
From squares to a price
Once you know your squares, the cost is easy to ballpark. Installed architectural shingle roofs in Minot run about $450 to $750 per square, which puts most homes between $9,000 and $22,000. Our roof replacement cost calculator does that math for you and adds tear-off and decking. For a written number, call (380) 247-5157 and we will measure the roof for free.
More free roofing tools
Want the exact number?
Free inspection, photo report the same day, written line-item quote.