How to Measure a Room

Depending on the purpose that you are measuring the room for, there are different measurements that need to be taken. For example, if you’re putting in flooring, you need to know the area of the floor. If you are painting, you need to know the area of the walls and ceiling. And if you’re putting in a border of some sort, you need the perimeter measurement of the room. This can be difficult if you’ve never done it before, and can be complicated by built-in features like sloping ceilings, fireplaces, recesses, and bay windows. Find out how to do it here! Steps

Rectangular Room

Floors

1. Make a drawing of the floorplan in the room you are measuring. It doesn’t have to be to scale, but the more accurate it is, the more useful it’ll be for recording purposes. In this hypothetical drawing, there is a bathroom on the right (which is a separate room, so it is not recorded in the measurement) and a bay window to the left.

2. Measure the shortest width and length in the room. (See Tips if measuring for carpeting.) If you’re measuring a room with no recesses or foyers, there will be only one width and only one length. But in this example, three lengths are shown. The shortest one should be recorded. The other two, with the red line crossing through them, should not.
3. Multiply the width and the length to get the main area measurement. If the room has no recesses or foyers, stop here. This is the measurement of the total floor area. Record this in the center of your drawing.
4. Calculate the area of individual recesses.

   • Square or rectangular recesses: Measure the width and length (shown in purple) of the recess (shown in green) as if it was a tiny room. Multiply the width and length to find the area of the recess. Record it in the recess area of your drawing.

   • Round recesses: Measure the longest width and length of the recess (usually through the center) up until the edge of the main area, which you already measured. In this example, the length is shown in gold and the width in blue. Cut the length in half, and multiply your answer by the width, then by pi (3.14). This will give you the area of an entire ellipse, but remember that only half of the ellipse extends beyond the border of the room, so divide the area in half. Record this in the recess area of your drawing.

     • This calculation is only accurate if the ellipse is divided in half by the wall. Otherwise, it is a rough estimate.
     • The area in a bay window recess should only be included as part of the area of the room if it has a floor (rather than a seat) and the ceiling is at least seven feet or 2.13 m high.
     • Add all of the areas together to get the total floor area.

Ceilings

1. Calculate the floor area as described above.
2. Account for any differences between the floor and the ceiling area. If the outline is the same, the area will be the same.
   • A ceiling that slopes or has recesses or variation of any kind will have a larger surface area than the floor, so keep that in mind (i.e. buy a little extra paint!).
   • Skylights can be subtracted from the ceiling area. Multiply the length and width of the skylight to get its area, then subtract that amount from the total ceiling area to get a more accurate measurement.

Walls

1. Make a drawing of the wall roughly to scale, including doors and windows.
2. Measure the width and height of the wall.
3. Multiply these together to get the total wall area.
4. Subtract the area of windows and doors from the total wall area. If you’re measuring to see how much paint you’ll need, include the frames in your measurements (presuming the frame will be painted in the same color as the walls).
5. Subtract the area of attached fixtures from the total wall area. This will be tricky, depending on the shape of the fixture (e.g. a sink will be more difficult than a standard bathtub).

Perimeter

1. Measure a rectangular room by adding the length and the width and multiplying the answer by two.
2. Measure a room with an irregular perimeter by working your way around with a measuring tape along the floor. If where the ceiling meets the wall is irregular (i.e. not a right angle) then the perimeter will be a little longer than on the floor.

 Todd Kreps, Realtor/Broker/ABR/SRES

704.564.6941

ToddKreps@StonePropertiesNC.com

How to Water Your Lawn EfficientlyFor many, a lush, green lawn is a symbol of proud homeownership as well as a pleasant place on which to relax or play. Lawns, however, require a lot of water–water which, depending where you live, may be in short supply.

Find out if your community has watering restrictions. Many communities have responded to water shortages by implementing laws that restrict how many times per week residents can water their lawns, or for how long, and/or at what times. If you live in such an area, this article can still help you, but be sure to abide by the restrictions.

Water only when your grass needs it. Water conservation isn’t the only reason to limit the amount of water you give your lawn. Overwatering is also bad for your lawn’s health and can contribute to the development of fungus and disease. Many people, however, don’t know that they’re overwatering. Some types of grass require more water than others, and environmental factors, such as temperature, humidity, and wind, can dramatically affect how frequently you need to water your lawn. Fortunately, the most accurate way to determine whether your lawn needs water is also the easiest: just look at the grass. When grass needs water, it will begin to take on a blue-gray tint, and the older leaf blades on the plant will begin to curl up or wilt. In addition, footprints will remain on the grass for longer than usual, as the grass won’t “bounce back.” When 30-50% of your lawn shows these symptoms, it’s time to water.

Water deep to encourage deep root growth. Frequent shallow watering encourages weed germination, and they also cause the grass plants’ roots to grow shallow, leaving the plant more susceptible to drought and to certain diseases. Watering only when your grass really needs it encourages the roots to grow deeper, if you apply enough water each time to penetrate the root zone. The most accurate way to determine the depth of the root zone is to dig a small hole and measure how far the roots go down. Alternatively, you can follow these general approximations: if you have a bluegrass lawn, each watering should moisten the soil to 6-8 inches, while for most other grasses, the water should penetrate 8-12 inches. You can determine how long to leave the sprinkler(s) on by using one of the following methods. o    Turn on your sprinkler for 15 minutes. After 18-24 hours, find out how deep the water soaked in by digging a small hole in the watered area or using a probe (a probe will push easily through damp ground). You can also push a shovel into the ground and use it as a lever to spread the soil apart enough so that you can see several inches below the surface. Once you see how deep the water went in 15 minutes, you can calculate how long you need to leave your sprinkler on. For example, if the soil is damp to 4 inches below the surface and your goal is to moisten the soil to a depth of 8 inches, you’ll need to leave the sprinkler on for 30 minutes (2 X 15 minutes) each time you water. o    Estimate how much water you’ll need based on your soil type. In general, 1″ of water will penetrate sandy soils to 12″, loamy soils to 6-8″, and clay soils to 4-5″. Using these estimates isn’t quite as accurate as digging, but it’s pretty close, especially if you have a good knowledge of your soil composition. To figure out how long you need to keep your sprinkler or sprinkler system on, calibrate your sprinklers.

Water in the early morning. When you use sprinklers, some water evaporates before it hits the ground. On a hot, windy day, the amount of water that never reaches your grass can actually be quite substantial. To reduce loss to evaporation, water sometime between 4 A.M. and 9 A.M., when the air is still cool and the wind is usually at its calmest.  

Aim your sprinklers to water the lawn, not the sidewalk or street. Slight adjustments to your sprinklers can save a lot of water. Ideally, you shouldn’t water your sidewalk, patio, street, or driveway at all. Avoid creating runoff. Even with sprinklers correctly targeted at the lawn, many people water until (or even after) water begins to run off the grass and into the street or driveway. This can waste a lot of water, and it isn’t doing your lawn any good. If water starts to run off your lawn before you’ve been able to give it a deep watering, turn off the water for 15-20 minutes to let the ground absorb the water, and then continue watering as needed (rotating a sprinkler between one area and another will also do the trick). Some soil types absorb water more slowly than others, but runoff can also be caused by excessive thatch buildup, which can promote disease–and which is sometimes caused by routine overwatering.

Let the rain do your work for you. Nothing looks more wasteful than running your sprinklers while it’s raining. If your sprinkler system is on a timer, get and install a rain sensor that automatically turns the water off when it rains. If possible, also avoid watering if rain is expected later in the day or during the next day. Your grass should be fine, even if it looks stressed. Use a rain gauge to determine how much rain you received, and then water a bit more only if needed.

Water problem areas by hand. Many lawns have one or two spots that require more water than the rest of the lawn. A south-facing slope (or, in the Southern Hemisphere, a north-facing slope), or an un-shaded area in an otherwise shady lawn are two common examples of these “problem areas.” If you water your entire lawn every time you need to water these hot spots, you’ll likely overwater everyplace but these spots. Instead, water them by hand or use a separate sprinkler that’s not attached to the rest of your irrigation system.

Todd Kreps, Realtor/Broker/ABR/SRES/e-Pro

ToddKreps@StonePropertiesNC.com

704.564.6941

Q: Why should I work with one agent when buying a home?  Isn’t it better to keep my options open by having multiple agents send me information about available homes?

A:  Loyalty is a two-way street. A good agent will bend over backwards for his or her client, as long as the agent knows that the client won’t defect to another agent once the perfect home is found. When a great listing comes on the market, who do you think the Realtor will call first, a client who is working exclusively with this Realtor, or someone who told the agent “call me if you find something interesting” and is juggling several Realtors at once?  You’ve guessed it; the loyal client gets the first call.Choosing a Buyer’s agent to work with exclusively benefits both of you.  You get a professional who is obligated to find you the home you’ll fall in love with, answer any questions or unknowns about the process, negotiate on your behalf, take care of all the paperwork, and look out for your (not the seller’s!) best interest.  The agent gets the peace of mond of knowing that After working hard to find you your dream home, he or she will get paid.  That sound pretty fair, doesn’t it?  And since the seller, ot the buyer, pays the agent, it is hard to understand why any buyer would nao want to have a dedicated Buyer’s Agent at their side.

Todd Kreps, Realtor/Broker/Accredited Buyer’s Representative

(704)564-6941

ToddKreps@StonePropetiesNC .com