Roof Online

Thickness Equivalents: Sheet Steel Gauge, Mils, Inches, and Millimeters

By Jack Gray, Roof Online Editor • Last updated August 7, 2024

Table of Contents

Sheet Steel Gauge Standards

See our article “Sheet Steel: Gauge, Thickness, and Weight Chart” for information on the Manufacturers Standard Gauge, which is used commercially in the US, having replaced the US Standard Gauge over time.

In the United States, the standard (thickness) gauge for sheet steel is established by federal law.

15 U.S. Code § 206 states, “For the purpose of securing uniformity the following is established as the only standard gauge for sheet and plate iron and steel in the United States of America…” and goes on to provide a complete table of all the different gauge numbers with their thickness and weight equivalents.

When a manufacturer sells steel deck or steel roof panels in the US, their products must comply with these gauge standards.

Roof and building specifications often use “gauge” when stating the required material thickness. A structural engineer will call for 20 gauge steel deck, for example, or a roof consultant will specify 24 gauge steel panels to be used in a standing seam metal roof.

(Interestingly, aluminum roofing panels do not use gauge, and are described in inch decimals, 0.032″ being a common thickness.)

Most other countries simply use millimeters.

How to Check the Gauge of Sheet Metal

If you need to check the thickness of the existing steel roof deck on a building, or maybe you’re a homeowner and you’d like to verify the thickness of the metal panels the contractor is planning to use…before the roofers start installing them on your roof…they do make a tool for that.

For an existing roof deck, roof access hatches or HVAC penetrations are good places to find an edge where you can use the tool to measure the deck metal. You should try to find a factory edge, though.

If the sheet steel has been cut through by a portable power saw after it was installed, this will be a bad location to try to check the gauge, as the edges around the hole will typically be deformed and difficult to measure.

Table of Gauge, Mil, Inch, and Millimeter Equivalents

This table is a partial sheet steel gauge table, covering the gauges typically used in building construction.

Gauge Number
(Sheet Steel)		 Mil Equivalent
(Thousandths of an Inch)		 Inch Equivalent Fraction Inch Equivalent Decimal Millimeter Equivalent
6 ga 203 mils 13/64 inch 0.203 inch 5.159 mm
7 188 3/16 0.188 4.763
8 172 11/64 0.172 4.366
9 156 5/32 0.156 3.969
10 141 9/64 0.141 3.572
11 125 1/8 0.125 3.175
12 109 7/64 0.109 2.778
14 78 5/64 0.078 1.984
16 63 1/16 0.063 1.588
18 50 1/20 0.050 1.270
20 38 3/80 0.038 0.953
22 31 1/32 0.031 0.794
24 25 1/40 0.025 0.635
26 19 3/160 0.019 0.476
28 16 1/64 0.0156 0.397
30 13 1/80 0.013 0.318
32 10 13/1280 0.010 0.258
34 9 11/1280 0.009 0.218
36 7 9/1280 0.007 0.179