How do I correctly measure the square footage of a two story house?

How do I correctly measure the square footage of a two story house? There is no garage, all of the bottom floor is livable space, upstairs is two loft bedrooms and that is all.

i believe the question is measure the square footage, not livable or heat. if i were to build u a house and u gave me the plans the measurements would be from outside stud to outside stud.

so measure the house from the outside(downstairs) length x width to get total sq ft. of downstairs.( if brick house subtract 6" from each wall to allow for the brick and the air space) then u can measure the 2 rooms upstairs( sheetrock to sheetrock! ( or what ever u have for wall sheathing )

add top and bottom together and that is ur correct sq. ft.

lic. gen. contractor

Take the usable square footage upstairs and add it to the total from downstairs. You may have to measure room by room.

Every room should be measured the length times the width, then multiply that times the height. Do that to every room. Then add the totals of every room and that total is the square footage of your house. Good luck. Oh, add some for the roof area if it is open cathedral ceiling.

very carefully!!!...no, just measure the rooms and halls..it's simple math you won't have a problem

I don't build houses - I sell, buy and list them. If you were listing it, everyone has the right idea:

Length x Width will give you the square footage of a room.
Start with measuring all your first floor rooms and add the totals together.

Same with your loft floorspace and then add those square feet to the total of your first floor.

Don't make more work for yourself than you need too!
In a kitchen - go wall to wall, not counter to counter. Bathrooms - wall to wall including the tub/shower area. Steps are part of the room they are in so don't try to measure the steps. Closets and crawlspaces don't matter, because in the end they are included when you add your two floors together.

In a real estate listing (if that's what you're doing this for) the ceiling height won't matter and you don't count anything below groundlevel like a basement or attic space. Unless the attic space would be finished and heated, then it could be used as a third floor thus adding more square footage to your home as living space.

Quick and easy tip: If you have any drop or tiled ceilings, they're easiest. Usually the standard size is 2 foot squares so you can just count the squares and x them by 2 down the length and then by the width and then x those 2 numbers for your total. Some are different sizes so just go from there. Same idea with tiled floors. Trust me, it's a heck of alot faster, easier and convenient.

Another way to measure your home is from the outside but pay attention to the shape of your house. Alot of houses aren't just square or rectangular. They have areas that jut out here and there on one floor but not another so make allowances for that. Hope this info. helps you. Have fun.

Measure the outside of the house its easy. Then subtact 10% for walls and average closets , And the loft area just take a good guess where it starts from the outside and use the same.ie a 24' x40' house outside is about 864sq ft inside space with the loft at 20x 24' add inside space 432 so you get about 1300 sq ft. a lot less time than measuring every room and usable space.

just measure each room length x width. Example an 8x 10 room is 80sq. ft.

Lenght times the width, of each room, and hallway.

This will be the square footage of your house that is available to you. On the kitchen, you go from wall to wall, (even though, three feet of your cabinet space is useless to you, some one may want it in a different place, so its available space to rip out and go at it again).

Hope this helps...


Jesse

measure total length from outside then measure total width from outside , get calculator times length by width then times by two