Shingles for 1,200 Square Feet

40 Bundles if 1,200 Sq Ft Is the Roof — More if It Is the House

How many bundles of shingles for 1,200 square feet?

About 40 bundles if 1,200 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 1,342 square feet and it takes about 45 bundles.

How many bundles of shingles you need for 1,200 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 1,200 square feet is the roof itself, it takes about 40 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 1,342 square feet — and it takes about 45 bundles. The tables below give both, at every common pitch.

Is 1,200 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 1,200 square feet, both readings
If 1,200 sq ft is…	Roof area	Squares +10%	Bundles at 3/square
The roof surface itself	1,200 sq ft	13.2	40
The footprint, roof at 3/12	1,237 sq ft	13.6	41
The footprint, roof at 4/12	1,265 sq ft	13.9	42
The footprint, roof at 6/12	1,342 sq ft	14.8	45
The footprint, roof at 8/12	1,442 sq ft	15.9	48
The footprint, roof at 10/12	1,562 sq ft	17.2	52
The footprint, roof at 12/12	1,697 sq ft	18.7	57

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 1,200 square feet of roof, by waste factor
Waste	Suits	Squares	Bundles
10%	Simple gable, no valleys	13.2	40
15%	Hip roof	13.8	42
20%	Cut-up roof, several valleys	14.4	44

What else 1,200 square feet of roof takes

Underlayment: about 2 synthetic rolls at 10 squares each, or 4 rolls of 15 lb felt.
Nails: roughly 3,168 on a four-nail pattern with architectural shingles, which is about 22.6 pounds.
Sheathing, if the deck is being replaced: about 42 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 1,200 square feet of roof is roughly 1.5 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 1,200 square feet?

About 40 bundles if 1,200 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 1,342 square feet and it takes about 45 bundles.

How many squares is 1,200 square feet of roof?

12 squares before waste, since a roofing square is exactly 100 square feet of finished roof. With 10% waste added you would order against 13.2 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.