How many bundles of shingles for a 1,500 sq ft house?
Check it with your own numbers
Open the Roofing Calculator with these values
| House length (incl. overhang) | 50 ft |
| House width (incl. overhang) | 30 ft |
| Roof pitch | 4/12 |
| Waste | 10 % |
| Roofing squares | 17.4 |
| Shingle bundles | 53 |
| Roof area | 1,739 ft² |
| Pitch multiplier | 1.054 |
Footprint is not roof area
A ranch house with a 50x30 footprint including the overhangs is 1,500 ft² flat. The roof is bigger because it slopes. On a 4/12 pitch, the slope adds about 5.4% (a pitch multiplier of 1.054). With 10% waste for hips, valleys and starter strips, the roof area is 1,739 ft², or 17.4 squares.
Bundles
Standard architectural shingles come 3 bundles to a square, so you need 53 bundles. Some heavier designer shingles are 4 or even 5 bundles per square; check the wrapper.
How pitch changes it
Same 50x30 house, different roof:
- 6/12: multiplier 1.118. A common pitch for two-story houses.
- 8/12: multiplier 1.202. Steep enough that you need roof jacks to stand on.
- 12/12: multiplier 1.414. Nearly half again the footprint.
Switch the pitch in the calculator to see the bundle count for each.
Square footage of the house vs the roof
Real estate square footage is living space. A 1,500 ft² two-story house has a footprint closer to 750 ft², so it needs about half the shingles. A 1,500 ft² ranch with an attached garage might cover 2,000 ft² of ground. Measure the roof outline, not the listing.
The rest of the order
- Starter strip: enough to run the eaves and rakes, 160 ft of perimeter on this house
- Ridge cap: a 50 ft ridge takes about 2 to 3 bundles of cap shingles
- Underlayment: synthetic rolls cover about 10 squares each; buy 2
- Ice and water shield: required along eaves in most cold-climate codes
- Nails: about 2.5 lb of 1-1/4 inch coil nails per square
Tear-off
One layer of old shingles over 17 squares fills a 20-yard dumpster about halfway. Two layers will fill it.
For other sizes, use the full Roofing Calculator or browse all answers.