With the warm weather of spring and summer comes a variety of home upgrade needs, and one common necessity within various such projects is a need to measure a given room. Whether you’re changing the room’s dimensions or just looking for ways to change up its design or aesthetics, knowing how to accurately and efficiently measure a given room goes a long way.
At NPS Store, we’re here to offer a huge range of discount products for clients around Layton, Orem, Salt Lake City and nearby areas – including things like hardware and tools for any sort of interior home upgrade you’re considering. Here are some basics on the supplies you need to measure a given room in your home, plus some basic steps and simple considerations to keep in mind.
Supplies Needed
Here are the basic supplies you’ll typically need for your measurements:
- Tape measure: Ideally, a retractable tape measure with both standard and metric measurements for the greatest versatility.
- Pencil: For marking down measurements on paper or directly on the wall.
- Paper: For writing down your measurements as you go. A basic notebook or pad of paper works fine, or you can use a pre-made room measurement chart or work sheet if preferred.
- Calculator: For calculating total room sizes, as well as for converting between measurement types if needed.
Steps to Follow
Here are the basic steps to follow for measuring any standard room in your home:
- Decide what specific dimensions you want to measure. Do you need just length/width, or height as well for full 3D measurements?
- Clear the room of furniture and other obstacles. This allows for the most accurate measurements and the fewest things to work around.
- Measure wall lengths. Use your tape measure to measure the length of each wall in the room, recording the measurements on your paper. For irregular walls, measure in multiple segments and add totals.
- Measure diagonals. If you want to verify that your room is square, measure the diagonals and ensure they match. If not, the room’s shape is irregular and further measurements may be needed.
- Measure ceiling height. Use your tape measure to measure the height of the ceiling at its tallest and shortest points. Record the measurements to determine the range of ceiling height in your room.
Additional Considerations
Here are some other themes to be thinking about as you perform these basic measurements
- Obstacles: Make sure to account for any permanent fixtures, like fireplaces, that may impact your room’s dimensions. For instance, if a fireplace’s presence means the longest wall of your room will be shorter than expected, make sure to note this.
- Surfaces: Some walls may have oddly shaped surfaces that need extra attention when measuring. In such cases, it helps to measure multiple points along the surface and use an average number as your final measurement result.
- Doors and windows: If your room has doors or windows, make sure to measure their dimensions as well when accounting for the total size of the space. This is especially important if you’re planning to buy new doors or windows for your room.
Unusual Room Shapes
What about for rooms with unusual shapes, like L-shaped bedrooms or split-level bathrooms? In such cases, additional measurements may be needed. For instance, you might need to measure a room’s height in various places besides just at the ceiling. You’ll also want to take extra care when measuring around corners and other sharp edges that can distort the accuracy of your measurements.
Double Checking
For many projects, it helps to double check your measurements just to ensure accuracy. After taking initial measurements and recording them on paper, walk around the room one more time with your tape measure and see if any numbers are off or need further adjustment. This simple extra step is often worth the effort.
You don’t necessarily have to re-do every step of the process to double check – just take another look at lengths and heights, measure diagonals again if needed, and compare any differences between your initial measurements and the double checks.
At NPS Store, we’re here to help make sure you have all the supplies you need for home upgrades in Layton, Orem, Salt Lake City and the rest of Northern Utah. Contact us today to learn more!
