How to Calculate the Square Footage of a Home

When buying, selling or building a house, one of the most important aspects is the square footage. The square footage is the area the house takes up. Usually the larger the square footage of the house, the more expensive the house is. People have their own preferences on the right size house, so it is important to see several houses with different square footage to get a general idea of how big of a house you may want.

Break the house down into rectangles if the house has an irregular shape.

Measure the length of one of the rectangles from one side of the house to the other side of the house. For example, a rectangular-shaped house with a rectangular addition measures 50 feet, and the addition measures 20 feet.

Measure the width of the rectangles, from front to the back of the house. In our example, the house's width is 30 feet and the addition's width is 10 feet.

Multiply the width times the length. In our example, for the house 50 feet times 30 feet equals 1,500 square feet. For the addition, 20 feet times 10 feet equals 200 square feet.

Add the square footage of each rectangle. In our example, 1,500 square feet plus 200 square feet equals 1,700 square feet.