Calculate # of Slates?

A

apple1

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Hi,
Trying to get a roughcut # for the number of slates I'll require. Is there any ready reckoner I can use to calculate a rough-cut number for estimating purposes? I know approximate labour costs for 1000 slates but not sure how to guage how many slates. Thanks, apple1
 
Thanks again qwerty. At the risk of leaving myself open to ridicule , is calculating the area in mts squared as simple as multiplying the length by width? Does this calculation legislate for the pitch etc.?
 
apple1 said:
Thanks again qwerty. At the risk of leaving myself open to ridicule , is calculating the area in mts squared as simple as multiplying the length by width? Does this calculation legislate for the pitch etc.?
Click to expand...
If you mean the length of the house by the width of the house, no, this doesn't take into account pitch (and will leave you underestimating).

If you know the height of the pitch you can calculate the true width of the roof (e.g. the distance from the front corner of the roof to the centre point of the pitch) and multiplying this by the length (the length is parallel to the ground so already a true distance) will give you the area of the roof surface.

If you know the height of the pitch, X (distance from the lowest point of the roof to the highest point). The width from the front of the house to the centre of the roof, y [e.g. half the width of the house] then you can calculate the true width, Z, using....

Z^2 = X^2 + Y^2

It seems complicated from my poor wording, but very easily done...
Google "Right angled triangles" or "pythagoras" to understand it further.
[X^2 = X squared... or X*X... so your final calc will be "z = square root of (x squared + y squared)"]
 
Thanks Satanta. Have several outshots also, so not sure how I'll legislate for those in my calculations. One other question....what can I expect to pay for say Tegral Thrutone's or comparable slate?
 
apple1 said:
Thanks Satanta. Have several outshots also, so not sure how I'll legislate for those in my calculations.
Click to expand...
The easiest way is to treat them as seperate blocks (e.g. same calcs as above for each individual block and then sum them all up) [so you'd end up with "l1*w1 + l2*w2 + l3*w3..... = Total area (l1 and w1 being the length and width [true length and true width so after taking the pitch into account] of the main area, l2 and w2 being the length and width of the first outshot etc.].

Or else get the overall area of the outermost points and remove the non roof area from the total (if this is easier to calculate).
You still need to take account of the pitch with the calcs again, but not difficult.

If you have a member of the family/friend who have done (or have a basic knowledge of) Technical Graphics/Maths/Engineering/etc. they would be able to give you a very close estimate in minutes.

[if you throw rough figures* up here, or PM them, I (or many other posters here on AAM) would give you a close guide area to work with]

(*.. including as much detail as you can on the outshots etc.)
 
Thanks Satanta.

Basic details of roof as follows. Roof is basically L shaped (2 main "legs" in the roof) with various outshots.
Main body of roof: 20.4 mts x 6 mts (length x true width)
Secondary body of roof: 12.5 mts x 6.8 mts (length x true width)
[The secondary part merges with the main body]
Outshot 1: 5 mts x 3.6mts
Outshot 2: 3.5 mts x 4 mts
Outshot 3: 4 mts x 3.3 mts
Outshot 4: 3.2 mts x 3.4 mts
Sunroom: 5 mts x 2.5 mts
 
Now that is a little complicated.

Given that all the outshots will be meeting the main section of the roof at different heights you'll be loosing a fair area of the main roof to the connecting sections. You'll also have more angular sections from the outshots than normal for a quick calc.

It can still be calculated fairly quickly, but with more information needed and using the mathmatical method (as above) definatly not the quickest way to do it.
 
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