Shingles for 1,000 Square Feet

34 Bundles if 1,000 Sq Ft Is the Roof — More if It Is the House

How many bundles of shingles for 1,000 square feet?

About 34 bundles if 1,000 square feet is the roof surface, at three bundles per square with 10% waste. If it is the footprint of the house and the roof is a 6/12 pitch, the roof is 1,118 square feet and it takes about 37 bundles.

How many bundles of shingles you need for 1,000 square feet depends entirely on whether that figure is the roof surface or the floor area of the house, and most people mean the house. If 1,000 square feet is the roof itself, it takes about 34 bundles at three per square with 10% waste. If it is the footprint and the roof is a standard 6/12 pitch, the roof surface is larger — about 1,118 square feet — and it takes about 37 bundles. The tables below give both, at every common pitch.

Is 1,000 square feet the roof, or the house?

This is what decides the answer, and most people mean the house. A roof is always larger than the footprint under it, because it is sloped — by 5% at 3/12 and by 41% at 12/12. Ordering against the footprint is the single most common reason a shingle order comes up short.

Bundles for 1,000 square feet, both readings
If 1,000 sq ft is…	Roof area	Squares +10%	Bundles at 3/square
The roof surface itself	1,000 sq ft	11	34
The footprint, roof at 3/12	1,031 sq ft	11.3	35
The footprint, roof at 4/12	1,054 sq ft	11.6	35
The footprint, roof at 6/12	1,118 sq ft	12.3	37
The footprint, roof at 8/12	1,202 sq ft	13.2	40
The footprint, roof at 10/12	1,302 sq ft	14.3	43
The footprint, roof at 12/12	1,414 sq ft	15.6	47

Three bundles per square, 10% waste for a simple gable. A hip roof runs 15% and a cut-up roof with several valleys up to 20%.

The same figures at a higher waste factor

Bundles for 1,000 square feet of roof, by waste factor
Waste	Suits	Squares	Bundles
10%	Simple gable, no valleys	11	34
15%	Hip roof	11.5	35
20%	Cut-up roof, several valleys	12	37

What else 1,000 square feet of roof takes

Underlayment: about 2 synthetic rolls at 10 squares each, or 3 rolls of 15 lb felt.
Nails: roughly 2,640 on a four-nail pattern with architectural shingles, which is about 18.9 pounds.
Sheathing, if the deck is being replaced: about 35 sheets of 4x8.
Starter strip, drip edge, ridge cap, valley metal and step flashing — all measured along an edge, none of them derivable from the area.
Ice barrier at the eaves in any climate that freezes, extending at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line.

Ordering practicalities

Order the whole roof at once and check the lot numbers on delivery — colour varies between production runs.
Unopened bundles usually go back for credit; opened ones do not, so order slightly over rather than exactly.
A square of architectural shingles weighs around 250 pounds, so 1,000 square feet of roof is roughly 1.3 tons — a boom delivery, not a pickup.
Check bundles per square on the wrapper. Three is standard, but heavyweight designer lines are four and premium profiles five.

Frequently asked questions

How many bundles of shingles do I need for 1,000 square feet?

About 34 bundles if 1,000 square feet is the roof surface, at three bundles per square with 10% waste. If it is the footprint of the house and the roof is a 6/12 pitch, the roof is about 1,118 square feet and it takes about 37 bundles.

How many squares is 1,000 square feet of roof?

10 squares before waste, since a roofing square is exactly 100 square feet of finished roof. With 10% waste added you would order against 11 squares.

Does the pitch change how many bundles I need?

Only if you are working from the footprint. Pitch does not change the bundles per square — it changes how many square feet of roof sit above a given footprint, which is 5% more at 3/12 and 41% more at 12/12.

Should I order extra?

Slightly. Unopened bundles usually go back for credit, but a second delivery for three bundles costs a trip charge and stops the crew for half a day — and on a stripped roof that is a weather risk as well as a cost.