How siding measurements shake out
The number of siding pieces per square varies by style, so shakes and shingles give you 50 to 100 pieces while vinyl planks provide 30 to 35 pieces.
Expect to pay $600 per square for siding materials alone, though prices range from $100 to $3,000 depending on the type you choose for your home.
When ordering siding, add 10% to your total square footage to cover cut-offs and waste, then round up to avoid running short during installation.
Hiring a local siding professional keeps measuring and ordering simple, ensuring you get the right amount and avoiding costly mistakes during your project.
Ordering siding for your home seems simple, but a surprising number of things can go wrong, especially when you’re converting square footage to squares and squares to boxes of siding. Knowing how many pieces of siding are in a square and how many squares are in a box will set you up for success and help you avoid over-buying or making an emergency trip to the home improvement store to buy more mid-project.
Unless you’re buying individual pieces of siding for minor repairs, you or the siding pro you hire will usually have to buy by the square, which covers 100 square feet. It’s best to estimate how many squares of siding you need rather than the pieces of siding if you’re doing a full or partial siding replacement or carrying out major siding repairs.
The number of pieces of siding per square depends on the type and style of siding. If you’re buying shakes or shingles, each piece will cover less than two square feet, which means each square will contain 50 to 100 pieces of siding. For fiber cement planks or clapboard vinyl siding dimensions, double 4-inch panels that are 10 feet long will each cover three square feet, meaning you’ll have 30 to 35 pieces per square.
| Siding Style | Pieces Per Square |
|---|---|
| 12”x12” shakes | 100 |
| 24”x24” shakes | 50 |
| 8”x10’ planks (double 4”) | 15–18 |
| 9”x10’ planks (double 4.5”) | 12–15 |
| 8”x12’ planks (double 4”) | 12–15 |
| 9”x12’ planks (double 4.5”) | 10–12 |
| 1’x4’ stone/brick facade | 25 |
| 2’x4’ stone/brick facade | 12–14 |
Most boxes of siding contain one to two squares and will cover 100 to 200 square feet, but the number of pieces per box will depend on the style. For shingles, a box will contain between 100 and 200 pieces of siding, while clapboard or plank-style siding boxes will contain 30 to 70 pieces of siding.
Calculating how much siding you need first requires that you measure the square footage you need to cover. You can measure all of the faces of your home you’re re-siding and then add the square footage together to get the total. Measure wall openings for doors and windows and subtract that square footage.
Once you know the square footage you need, add 10% to account for cut-offs and waste, round up to the nearest hundred, and then divide by 100 to calculate how many squares of siding you need. Check the boxes you’re purchasing to see how many squares they contain.
Alternatively, if you’re hiring a local siding contractor to complete the installation, you can have your pro measure your home and order the appropriate amount.
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