If you’re renovating, redecorating, or thinking of selling your home, you’re going to need an accurate measurement of square footage. Why? Some renovations may require you to obtain a permit, which means you’ll need to know the total square footage of your home. Redecorating projects, such as painting or flooring, also need accurate measurements so you’ll know how much paint or flooring to purchase. When listing your property, you need to know the exact size of your floor plan, down to the square foot or square meter, to assess its worth.
While you can hire professionals to do it, save some money and learn how to calculate square feet yourself. With the right tools and formulas, you’ll be able to measure and accurately calculate both the total and usable square footage of your home.
Tools Required for Measurements
There are different ways to measure square footage in your home, taking into account its shape and tricky-to-measure spaces. The key is to have the right tools on hand so that you can precisely measure each room of the house, including non-liveable spaces. To get ready to measure, you’ll need:
- Tape measure: You can try to use what you have on hand, but a surveyor’s tape measure is ideal in this situation. It’s quite long and designed for measuring large spaces and distances.
- Laser distance measurer: A laser distance measuring tool might be easier to use if you’re measuring a long or wide space. It can measure a distance in one continuous take, rather than having to measure, mark, and then continue to measure because your measuring tape is too short. Lasers provide an accurate measure and are pretty easy to use.
- Paper, pencil, and calculator:Once you know the right formulas and have some measurements, you can work out the math to correctly calculate the area of your home.
Another tool you can use is a square footage calculator. This online tool helps you predict the area of your home in square feet, square yards, or inches. There are different versions available on the internet, but the gist is the same. You can plug in the shape of the room, the measurements, and the units you measured in, and the calculator will give you the square footage of that space.
Basic Formula for Calculating Square Feet
When measuring and calculating square footage, it’s time to brush off your high school math skills. The first step is to make sure you understand the difference between length and width. Length is how long the room is and is the longest dimension of a space. Width is the shorter measurement and shows how wide the space is.
To get started, measure the length of the room using either the measuring tape or laser distance measurer and mark the number down. Repeat the same process to measure the width of the room. Then, use this square footage formula:
Length × Width = Square footage of a square or rectangular room
Calculating Accurate Square Footage for Irregular Shapes
For rooms or spaces with an irregular shape, you will need to use different equations to calculate the total area.
If you’re measuring a triangle area, start the same way as you would for a rectangular or square room and measure the length of the room (B), which is the base of the triangle. Then measure the distance from the base of the triangle (H) to its top tip. Now use the formula:
(Base ÷ 2) × Height = Square footage of a triangular space
For a circular area, measure the radius (R) of the room, or from the center to the edge. Use a calculator for the formula:
π × Radius² = Square footage of circular space
If you have alcoves or protrusions in the room, you need to measure and calculate the area of those spaces separately. Then, you can add those areas to the total square footage to account for them.
Multi-Room and Multi-Story Calculations
Once you’ve tackled one room, it’s time to get to the rest. To calculate the area for multiple rooms and floors, you need to do each one individually. The first step is to start measuring and then write down the area for that room, like the dining room, for example. Next, do the kitchen and write it down. Repeat the process until you have the area for each room on the floor, then add them all together.
Unfortunately, you can’t simply double that number to get the area of a two-story home, as the measurements and square footage might be different. You will need to repeat the process on the next floor and then add that number to the total of the floor that you’ve already calculated.
Common Mistakes in Calculation and How to Avoid Them
Even with the right tools and formulas, mistakes can still happen when you’re trying to determine the total area of your home. Some common mistakes revolve around irregular spaces in your home and how to account for them. For example, thick walls, high ceilings, or spaces like alcoves and fireplaces can throw off your total.
Forgetting to subtract staircases or other spaces without usable square footage will also skew the numbers.
Don’t forget to check oddly shaped rooms or hallways, as these might require calculations and measurements that you need to do in multiple steps.
Adding It All Up
Calculating the area of your home is a task that you can do with a little planning and the right tools. You can do it yourself, or enlist the help of a few pairs of hands to get the job done even quicker. Using an online calculator can give you a good idea of the area of your home in square feet, cubic yards, or other measurements, but taking a precise measurement and adding each room individually will likely give you a more accurate number.
Nestfully Is Here to Help You Find Your Dream Home
If you’re calculating the square feet of your home to get ready to list it and move, Nestfully is here to help you find your next place. Find homes for rent and for sale by using simple search tools and filters on the site or in the free mobile app, where you can also connect with an experienced agent who will guide you through the process of selling your home and buying a new one.
Fueled by the same source of property listings the pros use, Nestfully makes every home journey easier.
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