Guides · Updated October 11, 2026
How many ridge cap bundles do you need?
A 2,000 sq ft roof does not have a bundle count of its own. Two roofs with the same area can have different ridges. The count comes from the length of cap, plus waste, divided by what one bundle covers.
The arithmetic
This site treats one asphalt hip-and-ridge bundle as 25 linear feet, a common architectural coverage. Add waste before you divide, then round up: 10% on a straight gable or shed, 15% on a hip, 12% on the fixed L. A bundle does not split across the next roof, and hips end on a diagonal, so the hip allowance is larger.
- Feet of cap × 1.10 = feet to buy.
- Feet to buy ÷ coverage per bundle, rounded up = bundles.
- Metal is ordered in 10 ft pieces. Tile and slate are about one foot each, so the “bundle” becomes a piece count.
Read the wrapper. Some asphalt bundles cover 20 ft and some cover 31 ft. If yours is not 25, divide by the number on the bag instead of the estimator’s default.
A 50 ft gable
Ridge 50 ft. With 10% waste, 55 ft. At 25 ft per bundle, that is 3 bundles. Width and pitch do not change this count. They do change the roof area and, above 6:12, the labor side of a professional price. Open a 50 × 40 ft gable.
A 40 by 30 ft hip
At 6:12 the ridge is 10 ft and the four hips are about 90 ft. Total 100 ft. With 15% waste, 115 ft, which is 5 asphalt bundles. The vent is only the 10 ft of ridge, one 20 ft roll. Hips are capped and not vented. Open that hip.
The same hip in metal is 12 pieces of 10 ft, because 115 ÷ 10 rounds up. In tile or slate it is 115 pieces. Switch the material on the estimate and the count changes. The footage does not.
Why the same area can be a different order
A long gable ranch can be near 2,000 sq ft with one 50 ft ridge: 3 bundles. A hip of similar area, like the 40 by 30 above at about 1,342 sq ft of roof surface, is already 5 bundles, and a larger hip is more. Order from the lines, then check the area only as a sanity check that you measured the right building.