How many bundles of shingles for a 1,200 square foot house?
A single-story house with a 1,200 square foot footprint (40 × 30 ft) and a 6/12 gable roof has about 1,503 square feet of roof, or 15.0 squares, once the overhangs and the slope are counted. That takes 50 bundles of architectural shingles with 10 percent waste, 2 rolls of underlayment, 2 bundles of ridge cap, and 16 pieces of drip edge. A steeper 8/12 roof needs 54 bundles; a low 4/12 roof needs 47.
Shingles for a 1,200 sq ft house by roof pitch
| Pitch | Roof area | Squares | Bundles (10% waste) | Underlayment rolls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/12 | 1,417 sq ft | 14.2 | 47 | 2 |
| 6/12 | 1,503 sq ft | 15.0 | 50 | 2 |
| 8/12 | 1,615 sq ft | 16.2 | 54 | 2 |
| 10/12 | 1,749 sq ft | 17.5 | 58 | 2 |
| 12/12 | 1,901 sq ft | 19.0 | 63 | 3 |
Gable roof on a 40 × 30 ft footprint with 12 in overhangs, three-bundle architectural shingles, and 10-square rolls of synthetic underlayment. A hip roof of the same footprint at 6/12 takes about 50 bundles because of extra cutting waste.
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Why the pitch changes the count
The footprint is flat; the roof is not. A 6/12 pitch is 11.8 percent longer than the run it covers, so 1,344 square feet of footprint plus overhang becomes 1,503 square feet of shingles. At 12/12 the multiplier is 1.414 and the same house needs 1,901 square feet, or 13 more bundles. If you cannot measure the pitch, count the courses of existing shingles up one slope: each course is about 5.6 inches of exposure on architectural shingles. Two-story houses have the same roof as one-story houses of the same footprint; what matters is the footprint, not the living area.
What it costs to reshingle a 1,200 sq ft house
Architectural shingles run $35 to $50 a bundle, so the 50 bundles for this roof cost about $1,750 to $2,500. Underlayment, ridge cap, drip edge, ice-and-water shield at the eaves, starter strip, and 34 nails add roughly $601 to $1,052. Installed by a roofing contractor, including tear-off and disposal of the old layer, a 15 square roof typically prices at $6,762 to $10,518, with steep or cut-up roofs at the high end. Tear-off produces about 1.9 tons of debris per layer removed; one 20-yard dumpster usually handles it.
Common questions
How many squares is a 1,200 square foot house?
About 15.0 squares for a 6/12 gable roof with 12 in overhangs, or 16.2 squares at 8/12. A roofing square is 100 square feet of roof surface, and the footprint grows by the overhangs and the pitch multiplier.
How many bundles of shingles for a 1,200 sq ft roof?
50 bundles at 6/12 pitch with 10 percent waste, using three bundles per square. At 4/12 it is 47; at 10/12, 58. A hip roof needs about 15 percent waste instead of 10, roughly 50 bundles at 6/12.
How much does a new roof cost for a 1,200 sq ft house?
Roughly $6,762 to $10,518 installed for architectural shingles on a 15 square roof, including tear-off. Materials alone are about $2,351 to $3,552. Metal roofing runs two to three times the shingle price.