How many bundles of shingles for a 1,500 square foot house?
A single-story house with a 1,500 square foot footprint (50 × 30 ft) and a 6/12 gable roof has about 1,860 square feet of roof, or 18.6 squares, once the overhangs and the slope are counted. That takes 62 bundles of architectural shingles with 10 percent waste, 3 rolls of underlayment, 2 bundles of ridge cap, and 18 pieces of drip edge. A steeper 8/12 roof needs 66 bundles; a low 4/12 roof needs 58.
Shingles for a 1,500 sq ft house by roof pitch
| Pitch | Roof area | Squares | Bundles (10% waste) | Underlayment rolls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/12 | 1,754 sq ft | 17.5 | 58 | 2 |
| 6/12 | 1,860 sq ft | 18.6 | 62 | 3 |
| 8/12 | 2,000 sq ft | 20.0 | 66 | 3 |
| 10/12 | 2,166 sq ft | 21.7 | 72 | 3 |
| 12/12 | 2,353 sq ft | 23.5 | 78 | 3 |
Gable roof on a 50 × 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 62 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 1,664 square feet of footprint plus overhang becomes 1,860 square feet of shingles. At 12/12 the multiplier is 1.414 and the same house needs 2,353 square feet, or 16 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 1,500 sq ft house
Architectural shingles run $35 to $50 a bundle, so the 62 bundles for this roof cost about $2,170 to $3,100. Underlayment, ridge cap, drip edge, ice-and-water shield at the eaves, starter strip, and 41 nails add roughly $744 to $1,302. Installed by a roofing contractor, including tear-off and disposal of the old layer, a 19 square roof typically prices at $8,372 to $13,023, with steep or cut-up roofs at the high end. Tear-off produces about 2.3 tons of debris per layer removed; one 20-yard dumpster usually handles it.
Common questions
How many squares is a 1,500 square foot house?
About 18.6 squares for a 6/12 gable roof with 12 in overhangs, or 20.0 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 1,500 sq ft roof?
62 bundles at 6/12 pitch with 10 percent waste, using three bundles per square. At 4/12 it is 58; at 10/12, 72. A hip roof needs about 15 percent waste instead of 10, roughly 62 bundles at 6/12.
How much does a new roof cost for a 1,500 sq ft house?
Roughly $8,372 to $13,023 installed for architectural shingles on a 19 square roof, including tear-off. Materials alone are about $2,914 to $4,402. Metal roofing runs two to three times the shingle price.