Solve backwards
How much wall will my squares of siding cover?
- 12 squaresThe example worked below
- Siding CalculatorEvery figure is its own
You have
How much siding?
Worked by the Siding Calculator at the settings below.
The settings it uses
- Average Wall Height
- 10 ft
- Number of Doors
- 0
- Number of Windows
- 0
- Waste Factor (%)
- 10
What it will do
1,091 sq ft of siding
101 m²
One exterior wall. Enough for 109 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high.
Or several. Less than one exterior wall of the size the Siding Calculator opens on (130 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high).
Check it forwards
- Total Wall Length (perimeter)
- 109 ft
- It asks for
- 12 squares
- You have
- 12 squares
The Siding Calculator asks for 12 squares at that size.
If you had more, or less
Around your amount
Each worked by the Siding Calculator at the same settings.
Half
6 squares
545 sq ft
54.5 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high
Yours
12 squares
1,091 sq ft
109 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high
Half as much again
18 squares
1,636 sq ft
164 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high
Double
24 squares
2,182 sq ft
218 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high
Common amounts
What each amount of siding covers
The sizes it is usually sold in, each worked by the Siding Calculator at the settings above.
| You have | It covers | As one exterior wall | Average exterior walls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 squares | 455 sq ft(42.2 m²) | 45.5 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high | under 1 |
| 10 squares | 909 sq ft(84.5 m²) | 90.9 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high | under 1 |
| 15 squares | 1,364 sq ft(127 m²) | 136 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high | 1 |
| 25 squares | 2,273 sq ft(211 m²) | 227 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high | 1 |
A square is a hundred square feet
Vinyl siding is conventionally quoted in squares of 100 square feet (9.3 m²). With ten per cent for cuts and corners, one square sides about 90.9 square feet — 9.1 feet of wall at 10 feet high, or 2.8 m at 3 m — and twelve squares side about 109 feet. Exposure, panel length and the overlap between courses play no part, so convert with the coverage printed on the carton.
Windows give some back
This page leaves openings in, so the answer is solid wall. The calculator deducts a door at a fixed 21 square feet (1.95 m²) and a window at 15 (1.4 m²), so every window on your walls lets the same squares run about 15 square feet further — less the offcuts cut around each frame, which often cannot be used anywhere else. Patio doors and garage openings are larger and worth measuring.
Gables and corners
The wall is one rectangle, perimeter times an average height, so gable triangles, dormer cheeks and bay projections count only if they are folded into the height or added separately. Ten per cent suits a simple rectangular house; the calculator accepts 5 to 20, and outside corners and short runs between openings lose more of each panel. Trim, starter strip and J-channel are separate orders.
How the answer is worked
Nothing here is a second formula. The Siding Calculator runs forwards — a size in, a quantity out — and this page grows its own starting exterior wall in proportion until the quantity it asks for is what you have. Where it rounds up to whole containers, the answer is the largest size before the next one would be needed.
Where the calculator adds an allowance for cuts or breakage when you order, the same allowance comes off here, because it is the same calculator: a stack you already own finishes less than its face value. Where it adds none, neither does this page — the settings beside the answer say which.
Siding Calculator
runs it forwardsEstimate the wall area, in squares or square metres, and the siding needed to cover it, minus doors and windows.
Work out what to buy insteadSolve backwards
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Solve backwards
Start from what is already in the yard
Paint, sheets, rolls, bags and pieces, each read the other way by the calculator that orders it.
The calculator's own figures
Nothing is estimated twice: the page runs the same calculator you would order with.
The largest size that fits
Where a calculator rounds up to whole containers, the answer stops before the next one.
Both unit systems
Gallons and litres, square feet and square metres, side by side.
Frequently asked questions
- How much siding does 12 squares of siding cover?
- At the Siding Calculator's own settings, 1,091 sq ft (101 m²) — 109 ft of exterior wall 10 ft high. Every figure follows the settings, which you can change in the calculator.
- How many square feet is a square of siding?
- One hundred square feet (9.3 m²), the same convention used for roofing. With the calculator's ten per cent for cuts, a square covers about 91 square feet of wall; how many panels make a square depends on their exposure and length, printed on the carton.
- How many squares of siding for a 1,500 square foot house?
- Floor area is not wall area. A single-storey house 30 by 50 feet has a 160 foot perimeter; at 10 foot walls that is 1,600 square feet, plus ten per cent — 17.6 squares with openings left in, or about 15.8 with two doors and eight windows taken off, before gables.
- How much extra siding should I order?
- The calculator carries ten per cent for a simple rectangular house and accepts 5 to 20 per cent. Many outside corners, short wall runs between openings and gable ends all lose more of each panel, so raise the allowance for a house with more of those.