How to Calculate Square Feet of Any Room in Your Home | Calculator - HomeAdvisor (2024)

To use this calculator:

• Measure and record the dimensions of your room.
• Select the room’s shape, enter your measurements and click the “Calculate” button to determine its area in square feet.
• To calculate the area of multiple rooms, click “Add a new shape” to create a new calculator for every room or shape. Select the shape of the room, input its measurements, then click the “Calculate” button. Repeat as necessary. Your total square footage will update accordingly.

Above, we’ve included a multi-part square footage calculator so you can measure your entire home or get the exact measurements for materials for a project, regardless of the shape of each room or space. Our calculator allows you to find the square footage of a single room, or calculate the entire livable indoor space in your home.

Here are some reasons why you might want to measure your home:

• Renovation planning
• Planning landscaping projects
• Estimating the gross living area (GLA) for an appraisal

When it comes to your home, there are many reasons why it’s important to know how to calculate square footage. If you’re buying or selling a home but you aren’t ready to pay the cost of hiring a home appraiser, our calculator and guide can help you get the process started.

On This Page:

1. How To Measure Square Feet
   1. Printable Measurement Scratch Sheet
2. How To Calculate Square Footage of a House for Appraisal
3. What Counts as Square Footage
4. FAQs

How To Measure Square Feet

Most home projects involving flooring require you to know the square footage of your space. Prior to hiring a local floor installation to redo your floors, measure the space that the professional will be working with and ask for a material or labor project quote.

To measure square footage, you’ll need the following.

• 100-foot tape measure
• Basic calculator
• Pen or pencil
• Notepad, printable measurement worksheet and/or a copy of your home’s floor plan

Step 1: Sketch and Divide Each Room into Shapes

1. Print out our measurement worksheet, or make a copy of your home’s floor plan (if you need to measure the entire space).
2. Sketch the shape of the room. If your room is an irregular shape, divide the room into simple shapes.

Most rooms can be broken down into rectangular shapes, so it’s easy to calculate the area. However, irregular spaces like circular dining rooms or triangular closets can prove to be more difficult. Our calculators above can help you streamline these calculations.

Step 2: Measure the Room to Calculate Square Footage

Measure the length, width, or radius of the different shapes you’ve sketched in inches. This helps you avoid adding fractions and compound numbers. Keep your measurements in their simplest form, and always round up to the nearest inch. Use a notepad or our printable sheet above to jot down the measurements in inches as you measure each room of the house.

Step 3: Convert Inches To Feet and Calculate Square Footage

1. Divide your measurements in inches by 12, which will convert your measurements into feet.
2. Then, use our square footage calculator to find the area of your space’s shape. If you’ve divided a room into multiple shapes, remember to add up all of the shapes’ areas to find the room’s total area. Using our calculator’s “Add the new shape” button, you can easily input measurements for different shapes and calculate total area.

How To Calculate Square Footage of a House for Appraisal

For real estate advertisem*nts and listings, most agents determine square footage by measuring the house’s exterior dimensions. To calculate in this way, measure corner-to-corner or end-to-end of your home exterior. Then, take the exterior length and multiply by the width.

Real estate agents often measure straight corner-to-corner to find the total area. They then deduct non-heated spaces and add heated spaces whose footprints exceed the end-to-end measurement. This process can get complicated. If you’re selling your home, you’ll probably need a measurement from a certified appraiser. These are the instances when hiring a house appraiser near you is the best option.

It’s particularly useful to hire someone familiar with the local rules and standards for these calculations and valuing other aspects of a home. As objective as the process is supposed to be, these factors impact the final value the home appraiser reaches.

What Counts as Square Footage

Square footage generally refers to the parts of a house that have finished flooring, walls, ceilings and the ability to live in year-round. The inclusion of some areas into your total can only be considered on a case-by-case basis, such as finished basem*nts*. Before you take out your measuring tape, keep this in mind:

Areas that almost always count towards square footage:

• All indoor rooms*
• Stairways
• Closet areas
• Livable attics (if the area has at least seven feet of clearance)

Areas that don’t usually count:

• Dens
• Garages
• Pool houses
• Porches
• Patios or courtyards
• Unfinished basem*nts*

*Keep in mind: A basem*nt must meet specific criteria to add it to a home’s total square footage — it must be finished to the same quality standards as the rest of the house.

Typically, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) sets the standard on what counts as square footage in a home, but the guidelines aren’t always enforced. Plus, multiple listing services (MLS) guidelines across the U.S. have different rules on reporting. What counts as finished square footage depending on various local factors.

FAQs

When measuring square footage for tile, how much overage should you account for?

Account for 10% of overage when calculating the total area of a space. Simply multiply the total measurement by 1.1 to determine how much overage you need. Finally, add your overage to the total area. That will be the approximate amount of flooring or wall tiles you need to order.

When calculating how much tile a project requires, be sure to check out our tile calculator.

When measuring square footage for carpeting, how much overage should you account for?

After calculating your square footage, add 10% of overage to your carpet order for cutting, waste and staggering the carpet joints. For example, let’s say you have a 10 by 10 room, which is 100 square feet. When considering the cost of carpet installation, order 10% more for a total of 110 square footage of carpet to account for overage.

For convenience, check out our user-friendly carpet calculator.

What qualifies as a “finished” indoor space when calculating square feet?

Depending on your state, different indoor spaces qualify as “finished”. For example, in most cases, a finished garage or detached pool house won’t count towards the square footage of a home. However, these spaces are usually listed separately. Keep in mind that your basem*nt must have flooring or carpeting and an HVAC system to qualify as a “finished” basem*nt.

How do I calculate the square footage of my kitchen?

Approach calculating the size of your kitchen the same way you’d approach any other room. Be sure to measure the length and width of each bay window, alcove or offset. Remember, your counter space, cabinetry, walk-in pantry and kitchen island are included in the square footage of your kitchen.

1. Susie, May 28:

   When I measure length and width to determine the house’s square footage, do I multiply in inches or feet?

2. bill, June 15:

   Do you include Bay windows to the square footage? For example a Bay window that extends 1 foot out from the and 4 feet wide. Is that another 4 sq. ft.? May seem minimal but we have 3 of them and they would put us over 2000 sq. ft.

3. John, July 26:

   Bill, the article I just read said you include bay windows if they are supported by foundation. Window seats would not be counted.

4. Johnny Dowell, September 14:

   I am trying to figure the sq. ft. of a house. I know that the size of house is 31’8″ length & 42′ Wide which I figure is approx. 73 sq. ft. but wasn’t sure how to figure the height which is 10 ft. Are you able to help me?

5. Shawn Moore, September 16:

   I have a load of hand made flooring. I would like to us it in a large room, but not sure if I have enough. The boards run 3.5 inches by anything from 5 inches to 6 feet. I don’t remember how to figure the square footage on this. I know the room is 245 sq. ft.
   I was doing the (example here) 3.5″ x 46.625″=163.1875 NOW how do I get it to square feet or foot and inches?
   Thanx for the help!

6. Tom E, October 27:

   When calculating sq in to sq ft divide the sq in by 144 to get sq ft.
   A sq foot is 12in by 12in or 144 sq in.
   So your 1 board example is 1.133 sq foot.
   to find out the entire room add up all the sq in then divide by 144 to give you the total sq ft. Don’t forget to allow for waste, deduct 10 to 20%.

7. Julie Hellwig, January 18:

   I just cleaned an empty house for $60 dollars it was 1,132 sqft I’m trying to figure out how much I made by sqft I know it wasn’t much. But I have another of his house which is only 1,008 and he wants to charge me way less to clean he said it isn’t as big as last house!

8. Susan, March 23:

   Why does the square footage on the listing sheet differ from the actual square footage of the house?

9. jonathan, March 28:

   if I am building a square house, with an open square garden in the middle, do I subtract the square footage of the garden, from the square footage of the house ?

10. T, April 6:

    Do closets and hallways count toward the total square footage of a home?

11. elaine, May 13:

    if a room is 12’4″ x 16’8″ how do you figure square feet.

12. Rajesh, January 20:

    I have booked a apartment with 1591 Swetha feet, but when I did a basic calculation of multiplying L *B of all rooms ( square or rectangle) and then sum it up the total is coming to 1080 so feet.., if this is the carpet area then how do I calculate the total area to arrive at 1591 Sq feet

13. Dee, July 1:

    I am purchasing a 12×20 wooden storage building to make into a cottage just for me. Was wondering about an estimate and if we need to hang walls 1st there is no loft or attic only me.

14. Frank, October 19:

    How to I calculate the square footage of my house the main structure is 73’ by 42’ with a HVAC porch that is 10’ 15’ and a breezeway that is 20’ by 39’ and a finished HVAC garage hand guest room that is 30’ 30’ all but the porch have a second floor and the main house has a finished basem*nt.

15. Alan, November 7:

    Also need cost of wrapping 12 standard Windows extra framing and wrapping house just labor pric

16. DyAnne Wilkerson, April 8:

    I need to know if I have 52 feet – how many square feet is that ?

17. Jim Dasher, May 29:

    @Frank, Oct. 19: Main House: 73′ x 42’= 3,066′ x 2 (2nd level) = 6,123′.
    Add: HVAC Porch: 150′. (Your ‘breezeway’ does not count as living space.)

    If your garage is 2-story, and 30′ x 30′ per each level and the top level is your ‘guest room’, add: 900′. (NOTE: ‘Garage areas’ are NOT living space! Guest rooms are.)

    RECAP:
    Main House: ……… 6,123 sq. ft. (if two story)
    HVAC Porch: ………… 150 sq. ft.
    Garage ‘guest room’: 900 sq. ft. (If second floor of garage)

    Total square footage based on ‘your’ information: 7,173 sq. ft.

18. Veronica, August 25:

    What is the square footage for a room that is 13’X 14′ in size?

19. John, September 29:

    Does the footprint of exterior & interior walls count? The footprint of a walk in fridge? Is the footprint of a stairway plus the footprint of an under stairway storage area add up as two separate entities or Is the footprint of the vertical column measured singularly. I understand garages even if finished don’t count, but do storage closets accessible only via the garage count? If an attic is otherwise finished but not commonly accessible (e.g. via a pull down attic ladder) does it’s area officially contribute to the home’s square footage? Does an elevator’s footprint contribute to a home’s official square footage? I’ve (tried) to read various building codes but only end up more confused.

20. John, September 29:

    Addendum… Other areas I’m curious about is if walk in pantries, kitchen island area, and the footprints created by counter space & cabinetry, etc. add to a home’s official square footage.

21. Allen Garrison, December 15:

    They only count livable space in the square footage of the inside.