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Roofing Calculator - Estimate roofing project:

By LA Metal Roofs © 2001-2008 http://www.newenglandmetalroof.com

What you can accomplish with this interactive tool:

This tool calculates a ballpark figure for any roofing project. Bottom-line figure for the project changes with the choice of materials used, size of your roof, slope, and complexity of the roof. This tool will help you figure out the differences in cost so you can do a better planning. Figures used in this calculator reflect hiring skilled professionals who have all the necessary experience, tools, insurances and workers' compensation required by the state. These figures apply to New England Region of the U.S and may require substantial adjustment for other parts of the country.

Roof estimating guide shows you how to estimate your roof - from the ground using these four easy steps. Knowing this gives homeowner awareness of the size of their roof, its relative complexity and explains cost calculating basics.

How to use this Calculator:

To get started, you will need to measure the length and width of the building, over which the roof is seated.

The easiest way to obtain accurate roof measurements, is to walk around the house and take ground measurements right underneath the roof. Keep in mind that your roof will usually extend away by a foot from the walls of the house. Thus, you will want to use the actual roof edges also known as overhangs of the roof. Do not use just the house walls when taking your measurements, because this will throw your number off. Have a pan and a paper ready to record the measurements, in feet, for every section of the roof of the building.

Now that you have the ground dimensions of your roof, it is time to figure roofing pitch, also known as slope, which tells you how steep your roof is. The question many people will ask is How do I figure out the roof pitch without going on the roof itself. As it turns out, you can actually figure out pitch in several different ways. One way to do this, is to go to your local hardware store and buy a pitch meter that you can use to estimate roofing pitch while standing on the ground. Antoher way to do it is by simply looking at the roof and asking yourself wheather it is possible to walk on this roof with ease.

If it looks like you could kind of try to walk up the roof, but you would be taking chances, then the roofing pitch is medium.

And finally, if your walk up the roof would be considered suicidal, then your roof slope is steep, and non walkable.

Now that we have figured out the roofing pitch, it is time to determine the type of our roof. To do this, simply look at your roof and count the number of sides that it has:

If our roof has only two sides connected by a straigth ridge line, then it is a gable type roof, or a simple roof. Now if our roof has four sides, then it is a hip roof. The hip roof is considered to be more complex and will requires extra roofing material. There is about ten percent material waste with the hip roof.

A quick rule of thumb is that the more complex your roof is the more material will be wasted during the installation of a new roof. If a roof has a lot of sophisticated dormers, hips, slope changes, and valeys, then installation process becomes a lot more involved taking longer time to complete, thereby adding to the bottom line.

Selecting Roofing Materials

In order to help you better understand the numbers involved in getting a new roof, we have included both, the commonly used roofing materials, and premium roofing materials in this omline calculator.

The commonly used roofing material for slopped roofs is conventional asphalt shingle, which, by the way, has many different grades and ratings of its own. For the flat roofing, conventional materials are EPDM, rubber, TPO, modified bitumen, and other commonly used flat roofing systems.

The materials above represent typical non-premium roofing materials that are commonly installed on the roofs of regular buildings. If you are interested in premium roofing, then you are probably considering Slate, Clay Tiles, Cedar Shake, and Metal Roofing. For your convinience We have included all four of these premium roofing types in our calculator.

Any premium roofing installation is a specialized job that requires special skill set, tools, and experience doing that particular type of installation. No matter what roofing contractor you may decide to hire, make sure that your contractor in question, is actually capable of doing that particular type of installation you are interested in. Don't be shy and ask for references of the actual work done in order for you to ensure that the company in question has, in fact, performed this type of roofing work in the past. And do not be lazy, once you do get the refferences please be sure to actually go and take a look at the specific roof. Then ask if the people are actually happy with the roof and the service they recieved.

Points to keep in mind

If you are located in a different part of the country, then your numbers may be lower or higher depending on your locale. For instance, you may find generally lower figures in Mid-Western States, and in The South. The North Eastern Region and California will usually have higher figures for the similar type of roof replacement project.

All the figures aside, keep in mind that materials such as Natural Slate, and Clay Tiles are very heavy and may require additional reinforcement of your exisiting roof. Consider metal roofing that offers styles and looks of Slate, and Tile at the fraction of the weight, and at a lower cost.

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