Author: Pam Mason

As a buyer, you may want to know ?How many square feet in the house?? and/or ?Are there hardwood floors under the carpet?? These are two questions that may pose a problem for your real estate agent.

How do you actually measure the square footage of a house? Is it measured from the interior wall or the exterior wall? Do you include everything that is under the roof? What about the garage or carport?

Well . . . it depends. For appraisal purposes, square footage is usually measured from exterior wall to exterior wall. But, if you are purchasing a property and want to be sure the house will accommodate your furniture needs, measurements should be taken from interior wall to interior wall.

Often, a real estate agent will not attempt to calculate square footage but will provide the square footage data from another source, such as county records, architectural plans, or other sources. The agent should also disclose to you the source of the information and that they cannot verify the accuracy of the data.

A seller may have told the listing agent that there are hardwood floors under the carpet. But without verifying that information, there is no way to know for sure. Pulling up the carpet in the corner of each room or in closets may help you to verify that information. If there is a grill covering a heating or air conditioning vent installed in the floor, you may also be able to see the flooring under it. The best way to know for sure if there are hardwood floors under the current floor covering is to verify it yourself.