How do I find the square footage of a building?

Question

I need to know for a project... I should know, and I know it's really easy to find out, but I want to use Yahoo! Answers...

Answer 1

If you have access to the architectural drawings, the Life Safety and / or Code foot-print sheets will have that information.

Otherwise it's time to get out the tape measure (or other more sophisticated device) and do some measuring and geometry.  

Answer 2

This certainly depends on the type of building.  You find the area of the floor's footprint.    You'll find in the professional world this answer is never cut and dry as it depends on how you define the usable space, such as the opening for a stairwell may or may not count, etc.  

But simply you find the area of the floor, if you don't have a square or rectangle, cut the floor into smaller squares and rectangles.  Area is length times width, so add all of the smaller areas up to get your total area.  

If your building has more than one floor and the floors are all the same just multiply by the number of floors.  

If not, you'll just have to add up each floor separately and sum them up..  good luck

Answer 3

Start with the length and width of the floors.  If you will at least acquire that much, you're on your way to determining the square footage.

Answer 4

Maybe a simple example will get you on your way:

Area = width x length  (or vise versa)

for rectangular room

A building has two rooms

Area of room one: 20 feet wide, and 20 feet long

= 20 x 20 = 400 square feet

Area of room two: 15 feet wide, and 17 feet long

= 15 x 17 = 255  square feet

Add up all the "rooms":

square footage of a building = Total area = 400 + 255

= 655 square feet

If rooms are not rectangular, it gets more complicated!

Have a good day.

Answer 5

Multiply length times width.  If you measure in metres, you'll need to convert to feet for footage, otherwise, you'd have the square metreage.