How to Calculate Square Foot.
- Determine the design of the project or the area that you want to measure. You need two measurements to find square footage, width and length. The area for an outdoor patio we want to measure will be an I-shaped pattern or a rectangle.
- Use your tape and measure down the long side of the I-shaped rectangle; that measurement will be 20 feet. The width across the I-shaped rectangle patio will be 10 feet. It may be helpful to draw a rectangle shape on the paper and record the measurements on the drawing.
- Calculate the square footage by multiplying the length times the width of the object. In this example we will multiply 20 feet times 10 feet; this will equal 200 square feet.
- Figuring the square footage for more complicated shapes can be done by breaking them down into smaller rectangles or squares. This is where a drawing comes in to figure square footage. Draw the object on the paper and measure the object. Record those measurement on the drawing. Using the pencil to make smaller squares on the drawing and calculate the square footage of the smaller objects. Then add them together for the total square footage.
