How Do You Find the Size of a House?

In post 1 (Determining the Square Footage of a House) in this series of 3 posts about how to calculate the square footage of a house, we discussed the most basic aspects of measuring a house. We covered measuring a house that is a simple rectangle without a garage, and illustrated the difference a slight variation in the length of one wall might make when calculating square footage.

We offer a home square footage measuring service for customers in the Austin Texas area, including Cedar Park, Round Rock, Georgetown, Leander, Liberty Hill, Pflugerville, Hutto, Taylor, Manor, Buda, Kyle, Bee Caves, Wimberley, Lakeway, Manchaca, Dripping Springs, Driftwood, Westlake, Del Valle and Lockhart.
 

In this article, we will:

1. review how to measure a house that is slightly more complicated than a basic rectangle
2. show how to calculate the square footage of a house that is a rectangle plus an additional space
3. talk about converted garages and will review spaces that are and are not considered to be living area when determining the size of a home

Reviewing the Steps for How to Measure a House

The summary of the steps for determining the square footage of a house are:

1. Measure the exterior of the first story
2. If the second story (third, etc.) aren’t the same “footprint” as the first floor, measure the interior of the second story, adjusting for thicknesses and open spaces (open staircases, vaulted rooms, etc.)
3. Remove spaces that don’t count as interior living space
4. Add it all up

Example 3: A Simple House with a Garage

Garages are not considered to be interior living space, and are therefore not counted as part of the square footage of a house. In an appraisal, garages are still measured, and are clearly marked as being garages, which indicates that they are not living space (i.e. not “GLA”, or “Gross Living Area”). A detached garage will still be shown on the property sketch.

For this example, we will show how to calculate the square footage of a house that is a simple rectangle with the garage taking up part of the overall footprint within the rectangle. This type of home can be measured with a long measuring tape and does not require the use of specialized measuring tools.

The size of this house is 760 square feet. We obtained this size by first determining the size of the entire footprint of the house (the rectangle) and then subtracting the size of the garage:

25 ft x 40 ft = 1000 square feet

12 feet x 20 feet = 240 square feet (the size of the garage)

1000 square feet – 240 square feet = 760 square feet

Example 4: A Simple House with a Garage and an Addition

This next house looks a lot like the last one, except the owners have built an addition on the back. This addition is 300 square feet (15 feet by 20 feet).

Our calculations for the size of this home are almost identical to how we calculated the size of the home in the last example. In this case, however, we added 300 square feet for the size of the addition:

25 ft x 40 ft = 1000 square feet (the largest rectangle)

12 feet x 20 feet = 240 square feet (the size of the garage)

1000 square feet – 240 square feet = 760 square feet

15 feet x 20 feet = 300 square feet (the size of the addition)

760 square feet + 300 square feet = 1060 square feet.

This house has 1060 square feet of interior living space.

In reality, we wouldn’t do it this way. We would use our sketching software to draw the diagram of the house and the software would calculate the dimensions. For a simple house like this, that might sound like overkill. We rarely see a house this simple! Most of the houses we measure have all sorts of angled areas, and bump outs, and stuff that makes calculating the square footage of a house a real headache.

This is why we offer a home measuring service. It’s just not fun to measure anything more complicated than these simple examples unless you have a lot of experience. It’s even less fun when it’s in the high 90s in Texas in the summer. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

What is Included in the Square Footage of a House?

In addition to the spaces we all recognize are considered to be interior living space, some other spaces are also included:

• enclosed patios that are heated and air-conditioned and are similar in workmanship (quality) as the original dwelling. If it still looks like a patio, it probably IS still a patio, and you’ll need to have a licensed appraiser “make the call”.
• finished attics – must be conditioned and conform in quality, materials and workmanship to the original structure

What is NOT Included in the Square Footage of a House?

Other common spaces are not considered to be living space and are therefore not included when determining the square footage of a house:

• screened patios
• garages
• unfinished areas
• 2nd floor airspace (open space, above an entry, or a vaulted room)
• stairways – open area on 2nd floor
• basements
• detached living space – accounted for separately from living space
• spaces that are accessed only by traversing non-living space, like an enclosed storage area of a garage
• below grade rooms (e.g.: home on hillside). While this space may (might) add value, it will be determined separately from the rest of the home. While this may be common in other parts of the country, it is not common in central Texas. (Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) usually marks these spaces with “RESBLW” for (“residence below”) in the tax records. These are not common, and when we do find them, they are often on the edges of canyonland, northwest Austin (78731, 78759), or in the Toro Canyon area. We also have found a very small number in Crystal Falls and Lago Vista.)

These spaces may be determined to add value to the property upon analysis of the comparable properties in an area, but they are not included in the square footage. Some spaces, such as a finished basement, may add value, but at a lesser rate than other finished (above-grade) spaces.

Measuring a House with a Detached Garage

Measuring a house with a detached garage is actually a little easier – both the house and the garage are measured separately, and their sizes are calculated separately.

Here is a sketch of a home with a detached garage, along with the calculations from the software we use for determining the size of the home and the garage based on our measurements from visiting the property.

This came from this hand-drawn diagram:

What To Expect in the Next House Measuring Post

In the next post, we’ll take it up a notch and show you how to calculate the square footage of a two-story house. After that, it gets messy, FAST. We’ll show you some sample sketches on paper, and the end results of those sketches when they’ve been entered into our sketching software which is really nifty stuff.