House Facade Checklist: Plinth, Reveals, Profiles and Anchors
Short answer: on a 10 × 6 m facade with a 0.5 m plinth, two windows and a door, the calculator separates 4.5 m² of plinth and 1.98 m² of reveals from the 50.04 m² main facade and works out 5 starter, 11 corner, 6 window connection and 2 drip profiles, 10 reinforcements and 352 anchors. These are the items most often missing when a facade is calculated by area alone, and the Facade (ETICS) calculator works them out from the facade drawing.
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When you need this calculation
An external thermal insulation composite system has a lot of items, and when it is calculated by area alone, the plinth, reveals, profiles and anchor edge zones are the ones most often forgotten, so the order is incomplete and you have to buy more in the middle of the job.
The calculator works out the net area, the main facade, the plinth and the reveals, and for each item shows the net need, the quantity with allowance, the packs to buy and the surplus. The same products across all facades are added together before rounding. If you enter prices, you also get a quote with materials and labour shown separately.
Who the calculator is for
- Homeowners planning to insulate their facade who want to know how many boards, bags and rolls to buy.
- Facade installers and contractors who need a quick purchase list and quote.
- Merchants putting together an order for a complete ETICS system for a customer.
- Anyone comparing insulation thicknesses – the data carries over to the U-value calculation.
How to use the facade calculator – step by step
- 1. Choose the mode: Quick calculation (areas and linear metres without drawing) or Detailed measurement (facades with openings, reveals and plinth on a drawing).
- 2. In quick mode enter the net area (including the plinth), of which plinth, the reveal area, the number of openings, the anchor edge zones and the profile linear metres.
- 3. In detailed mode add facades (rectangle, gable or trapezoid) with plinth height and corners, then windows and doors with reveal depth and finished sides.
- 4. For the main facade, plinth and reveals choose the material, thickness, board size and m² per pack according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- 5. Under Consumptions (advanced) check the adhesive, mortar, primer, mesh and allowance, and the grain size of the finish render.
- 6. For anchors enter the density of the main and edge zones, and for a length suggestion the anchoring depth and the available lengths.
- 7. Enter prices if you like, then save the calculation to a project or export a PDF.
Plinth and reveals: how the calculator separates them
The plinth is part of the facade: its area is width × plinth height − the part of openings in the plinth. On a 10 m facade with a 0.5 m plinth and a 1 m wide door that is 4.5 m², which is deducted from the main facade. The plinth is calculated with separate boards, by default XPS 100 mm 1.25 × 0.6 m (here 7 boards), and can have its own finish; check that the board is suitable in the system documentation.
A reveal is depth × length of the finished sides. The default is 15 cm with the top, left and right sides: a 1.2 × 1.4 m window gives 0.6 m², a 1.0 × 2.1 m door 0.78 m². The sill and threshold are not finished unless you include them. Reveals are clad with 30 mm EPS by default and are included in adhesive, mortar, mesh, primer and finish render, but not in anchors.
Calculation examples
House 10 × 8 m, four facades 6 m high without openings, plinth 0.5 m, each corner external on only one facade: plinth 18 m², main facade 198 m², starter profile 36 m (19 pieces), corner profile 24 m (11 pieces) and 168 × 6 + 48 × 8 = 1392 anchors (14 boxes).
Facade 10 × 6 m, plinth 0.5 m, two windows 1.2 × 1.4 m and a door 1.0 × 2.1 m: gross 60 m², openings 5.46 m², main facade 50.04 m². For EPS 100 mm that is 106 boards (18 packs) and 11 bags of adhesive. With an anchoring depth of 25 mm the required anchor length is 145 mm, so from the entered 115, 135, 155, 175 and 195 mm the calculator suggests 155 mm.
Quick calculation, 150 m² with 12 m² of plinth, 6 m² of reveals, 10 openings and 20 m² of edge zones: adhesive (138 + 12 + 6) × 4.5 = 702 kg or 30 bags, mesh 4 rolls, 40 reinforcement patches and 130 × 6 + 20 × 8 = 940 anchors (10 boxes).
Profiles, reinforcements and anchors along the edges
Profiles are calculated along the actual edges of the drawing, with a 5 % allowance and in whole pieces. The example is a 10 × 6 m facade.
| Item | Where it is counted | Quantity | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter (plinth) profile 2 m | bottom edge without the door | 9 m | 5 pcs |
| Corner profile 2.5 m | external corners, reveal edges | 25.2 m | 11 pcs |
| Window connection profile 2.4 m | finished sides of openings | 13.2 m | 6 pcs |
| Drip profile 2.5 m | above windows | 2.4 m | 2 pcs |
| Reinforcements 0.2 × 0.4 m | 4 per window, 2 per door | 3 openings | 10 pcs |
| Anchors | 6/m², edge zone 8/m² | 42.54 + 12 m² | 352 pcs |
Edge zones and shared corners
The edge zone is a strip, 1 m wide by default, along each vertical corner of the building, without openings; if the facade is narrower than two strips, all of it is edge zone. Mark a shared corner as external on only one facade and on the other as Corner counted on the adjacent facade: the corner profile is counted once, while the edge zone stays on both. If all corners in the house example were external, there would be 48 m of corner profile (21 pieces).
Enter the anchor density according to the design or the system's anchoring scheme – the calculator does not derive it from the building height. Profile pieces are an estimate without cutting optimisation, and in quick mode you enter the running metres of profiles and the edge zones yourself. For the area of facades with gables and the consumption of ETICS materials per m², see the guide “Facade Calculation: Area, ETICS Materials and Quantities”.
The most common mistakes when calculating a facade
- The plinth counted both in the main facade and separately.
- All four reveals counted for every window, although the sill is usually not finished.
- A shared corner of two facades marked as external on both facades, so the corner profiles are doubled.
- Anchors counted on the reveals as well, although reveals are only bonded.
- Mesh overlap added twice – as the actual overlap and as a general percentage.
- Treating your own combination of products as a certified ETICS system.
What else to calculate along with a facade
From the results you can open the U-value and insulation calculator, which takes over the material, thickness, λ and area, and the Anchors calculator. For interior walls use the Plastering calculator and the Paint & Putty calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Do reveals need anchors too?
No. Anchors are calculated for the main facade and the plinth, while reveals are included only in adhesive, mortar, mesh, primer and finish render.
How wide is the anchor edge zone?
By default 1 m along each vertical corner, with 8 anchors per m² instead of 6; on a 10 × 6 m facade that is 12 m² and 352 anchors in total. Determine the exact density according to the design or the system's scheme.
How do I mark a corner shared by two facades?
On one facade as an external corner, and on the adjacent one as Corner counted on the adjacent facade. The corner profile is then counted once.
What happens to the plinth and the starter profile under a door?
The part of the door in the plinth zone is deducted from the plinth, and the starter profile does not run under a door at ground level. On a 10 m facade with a 0.5 m plinth and a 1 m wide door the plinth is 4.5 m² and the starter profile 9 m.
Is the facade calculation free?
Yes. The calculator is free on the web and in the Android app, where calculations are saved to projects and exported to PDF.
Calculate yours: Facade (ETICS)
Guides: How to Calculate Facade Area, ETICS Materials and Quantities