DATUM

Roofing Calculator — squares, bundles and pitch area

Roofing squares and shingle bundles from a building footprint, with the pitch multiplier that makes a roof larger than the house beneath it.

Roofing Calculator — squares, bundles and pitch area

The number people get wrong is the area. A roof is bigger than the house it sits on, and by exactly how much depends on the pitch. Everything else follows from that one multiplier.

footprint half-span ×1.118 rise slope length
The rafter is longer than the span beneath it. That ratio is the pitch multiplier, and it is the whole reason a roof takes more material than the house measures.
Footprint incl. overhang
Pitch multiplier
Actual roof area
With waste
Squares
Shingle bundles
Underlayment rolls

A roofing square is 100 ft² of roof surface — that is a definition, not an estimate. The pitch multiplier is √(rise² + 12²) ÷ 12: a 6:12 roof is about 1.118 times its footprint, a 12:12 roof about 1.414. Measuring the house and forgetting the multiplier is how orders come in short.

Bundles per square and underlayment coverage vary by product — three bundles per square is ordinary for architectural asphalt shingles but is not universal, so check the wrapper. Waste percentages here are for the field only; hip, ridge and starter courses are separate items and are not counted above. This estimates material, not the tear-off, decking, flashing or labour.