Roof Batten Calculator: Gauge and Metres of Tiling Batten
By the Professional Roofers team
Updated 2026 · Independent cost guide
Battens are the horizontal timber laths your tiles or slates hang on, and the spacing between them (the gauge) is set by the covering's length and its headlap. Get the gauge wrong and the lap fails, so work it out before you order the timber. Enter your figures below for the gauge, the number of batten rows, and the total metres to buy.
Your roof covering and slope
The gauge is the exposed part of each course. For an interlocking single-lap tile it is the length minus the headlap; for double-lap plain tiles and slates each course is overlapped by two above, so the gauge is the length minus the lap, divided by two. Always check the maximum gauge on the manufacturer's fixing sheet, as tile profiles vary.
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