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House Wrap Calculator

Estimate how many rolls of house wrap (weather barrier) you need for your exterior wall area.

  • Answers as you type
  • Every formula cited
  • Calculated in your browser
SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
Market
Imperial · sales tax
The total exterior wall sheathing area to wrap.

Measure each wall's height x width (including window and door openings — cut-outs are made on site, not subtracted here) and add them together.

Wrap spent on the horizontal and vertical laps, and on flaps folded into openings.

Each course laps over the one below and each seam laps in the drainage direction, and the flaps cut and folded into every rough opening are wrap too. A plain wall with few openings is near ten; a gable full of windows, or a product whose instructions ask for wider laps, needs more.

House wrap rolls needed

2 rolls

High confidence
Area to wrap (with overlap allowance)
2,365 sq ft
Then change the inputs to see how far the answer moves.

Show calculation logic

How this was calculated

Formula source(s)

  • A standard house wrap roll (9 ft x 150 ft) covers approximately 1,350 sq ft, per common manufacturer roll sizes

Inputs used

Exterior Wall Area
2150 sq ft
Lap Allowance (%)
10

Intermediate steps

Area to wrap (with overlap allowance)
2,365 sq ft
Final result2 rolls

What this calculation does not cover

  • Roll coverage is fixed at the 1,350 sq ft (125 m²) of a 9 ft by 150 ft roll and is not something you can set, so a wrap sold in any other width or length changes the number of rolls without changing the area shown in the breakdown.
  • The lap allowance is a percentage of wall area rather than a lap width you enter, so laps run wider than the minimum, and seams doubled up at corners and band joists, come straight out of that margin.
  • Wall height is never asked for, so the arithmetic cannot tell whether the 9 ft (2.7 m) roll width divides evenly into your wall run — an odd remainder is trimmed off and binned, and only the same allowance stands against it.
  • Rolls are rounded up once against the whole job total, which assumes the tail of one roll starts the next elevation; if each face is begun with a fresh roll, the order will run higher than the count given.
  • Only the sheeting itself is counted: seam and flashing tape, cap nails or staples, and any rainscreen furring over the drainage plane are separate orders, and no linear seam length is reported to size them from.
  • No extra material is added for the flaps folded back into a rough opening or for the lap over head flashing, so that detailing has to be found within the same lap allowance.

Estimated cost — your price

This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.

46.37 ft14.13 m46.37 ft14.13 mequivalent area2,150 sq ft199.74 m²20 ft5 m

Part of bigger jobs

This trade is one line of several job takeoffs. Run the whole job and every other trade comes back with it, off the same measurements.

Or plan the space itself: measure it once, doors and windows included, and this figure comes back worked out on that space, with what goes with it.

Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.

Sources checked 2026-09-17 · v1.1.0

Regulatory standards & verification citations1
  1. A standard house wrap roll (9 ft x 150 ft) covers approximately 1,350 sq ft, per common manufacturer roll sizes
Cite this page

Your workspace

Most jobs need more than one number. Add the calculators you need next and they open right here, underneath this one — your figures stay on screen and nothing is lost to a page change.

Tools and safety for this job

To fix a weather-resistive barrier. Generic types, no brands, no prices.

Protection this work requires

  • Most fatal falls on small jobs are from under three metres: use a tower or a ladder tied at the top, and never work off the top two rungs.
  • Knives cause more site injuries than any power tool: cut away from your body, change blades often, and wear cut-resistant gloves to EN 388 level C for repeated cutting.
Show the 4 tools this job needs

Essential

  • Staple gun

  • Tape measure

  • Utility knife

Recommended

  • Tower scaffold or trestles

Also needed as materials: replacement blades, staples.

what each cladding tool is for, and the spec that decides which to buy where one does.

Now that you have the number

These guides cover the work this quantity is for — the first ones run this calculator inside the section that raises the question.

Still deciding? House Wrap vs Liquid-Applied WRB — the factors that actually differ, with no invented prices.

Already have some? How much house will my rolls of house wrap cover?

The data behind it: Production rates by operation

How to calculate house wrap in 3 steps

  1. Exterior Wall AreaThe total exterior wall sheathing area to wrap.
  2. Lap Allowance (%)Wrap spent on the horizontal and vertical laps, and on flaps folded into openings.
  3. House wrap rolls neededThe tool computes the house wrap rolls needed from those figures and shows the formula, its sources, and a confidence rating alongside it.

House wrap rolls needed by exterior wall area

Page defaults, not your figures above.

Exterior Wall AreaHouse wrap rolls needed (rolls)
1,000 sq ft1
1,500 sq ft2
2,000 sq ft2
2,500 sq ft3
3,000 sq ft3
3,500 sq ft3
4,000 sq ft4

Frequently asked questions

Which way do house wrap laps go, and why does getting it backwards matter more than the quantity?
Wrap is shingled like roofing: upper courses lap OVER lower ones by at least 50-100 mm horizontally, and vertical seams lap 150 mm or more in the drainage direction, taped per the manufacturer. Reverse laps funnel wind-driven rain INTO the assembly — a failure no amount of extra material fixes. Order enough to keep laps generous around openings, where the wrap integrates with flashing tape in a specific sequence: sill first, jambs over sill, head flashing over jambs, wrap over head.
Why isn't window/door area subtracted?
House wrap is installed over the full sheathing surface first, then cut open at openings on site — subtracting openings up front would understate the roll footage actually needed to cover the wall runs.
Why does the lap allowance matter for house wrap specifically?
Courses of house wrap need to overlap each other (commonly 6+ in horizontally, more at seams) to shed water correctly, which uses more material than the flat wall area alone. The default is 10%; a product that asks for wider laps needs more.
Does house wrap replace a vapor barrier?
No — house wrap is a water-resistive air barrier on the exterior sheathing; a separate interior vapor barrier (or none, depending on climate zone and wall assembly) is a distinct decision made with your local energy code in mind.
Preliminary estimate, not certified engineering. This tool produces an indicative quantity calculation for planning purposes only — it is not a certified structural analysis, a guaranteed material takeoff, or a substitute for building department approval. Always verify measurements on-site and have a licensed contractor or structural engineer review any load-bearing, code-sensitive, or safety-critical work before purchasing materials or starting construction. Spotted an arithmetic or standards error? Report it to contact@craftquantities.com with your inputs — a confirmed fix gets a permanent check of its own, so the same mistake cannot come back.