Square (building area)
Encyclopedia
The square is an Imperial unit
of area
that is used in the United States
construction industry, and was historically used in Australia
. One square is equal to 100 square feet
. Examples where the unit is used are roofing shingles, metal roofing, vinyl siding, and fibercement siding products. Some home builders use squares as a unit in floor plans to customers.
Buildings in Australia no longer use the square as a unit of measure, and has been replaced by square metre
s. The measurement was often used by estate agents to make the building sound larger as the measure includes the areas outside under the eaves, and so cannot be directly compared to the internal floor area.
Imperial unit
The system of imperial units or the imperial system is the system of units first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824, which was later refined and reduced. The system came into official use across the British Empire...
of area
Area
Area is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat...
that is used in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
construction industry, and was historically used in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. One square is equal to 100 square feet
Square foot
The square foot is an imperial unit and U.S. customary unit of area, used mainly in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is defined as the area of a square with sides of 1 foot in length...
. Examples where the unit is used are roofing shingles, metal roofing, vinyl siding, and fibercement siding products. Some home builders use squares as a unit in floor plans to customers.
Buildings in Australia no longer use the square as a unit of measure, and has been replaced by square metre
Square metre
The square metre or square meter is the SI derived unit of area, with symbol m2 . It is defined as the area of a square whose sides measure exactly one metre...
s. The measurement was often used by estate agents to make the building sound larger as the measure includes the areas outside under the eaves, and so cannot be directly compared to the internal floor area.