Terms of Use

Effective October 10, 2026 · Covers Tape Pro and Rafter Pro

The short version. These are calculators and teaching tools for the tape and the square. They do the math on what you type and show you where every number is measured from. They don't know your plans, your loads or your local code, and they never size lumber for strength. Check your plans and your local code before you cut. The Tape Pro pass is $4.99 for a year, one payment, no auto-renew, one device at a time. Rafter Pro is free for now.

1. Who's agreeing

These terms are between you and Fancy Digital Works ("we", "us"), the maker of the Measure Like a Pro apps: Tape Pro at tape.measurelikeapro.com and Rafter Pro at rafter.measurelikeapro.com, with the home page at measurelikeapro.com. By using either app you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, don't use them.

2. What the apps are

Tape Pro teaches you to read a tape measure: a tape on the screen with every line explained, a way to count sixteenths, and tape math (add, subtract, center, equal spaces, multiply).

Rafter Pro does rafter math from the framing square: common rafters, the birdsmouth, ridge height, hips, valleys and jack rafters, cheek cuts, the marks for laying out jacks on a hip, a count of pieces for a run of studs or rafters, tape math, and a notes page.

Both are calculators and learning tools. They are not plans, not engineering, not an inspection, and not a substitute for any of those. Nothing in them is professional advice.

3. Check your plans and your local code

This is the rule that matters most. The numbers come from what you type and the rules below. Your plans, your engineer where one is required, and your local building inspector have the final say. If the app and your plans disagree, your plans win.

The apps don't know your loads, spans, lumber species or grade, snow, wind, connections, or what your plans call for. They never size lumber for strength. They cut whatever size you pick.
Where an app refers to "the code", it means the International Residential Code (IRC) as published. The place you build may have changed it, added to it, or use a different code. Your local code is the one that counts.
Flags like Caution · check, Seat shortened, Oversized and Too shallow are the app pointing at something to look at. They are not approval and they are not a complete list of what could be wrong.
Check the first cut on the floor before you cut the stack. Measure twice.

4. The rules Rafter Pro follows

So you can check the app against your own math and your plans, these are the rules and assumptions it uses. Every number is rounded to the nearest 1/16″.

Common rafters

Span is measured outside of sheathing to outside of sheathing. The app always assumes 1/2″ wall sheathing, and the heel of the rafter sits on its outside face.
Run is half the span, less half the ridge's thickness: the rafter stops at the ridge's face. Ridge choices are a 2x (1-1/2″), 3/4″, or none.
Rise is run × pitch ÷ 12. Pitch is typed as rise per 12 or as degrees.
Rafter length per foot of run is the framing-square table number, √(12² + rise²). Rafter length, from the ridge plumb line to the heel plumb line along the top edge, is run × that number ÷ 12.
Overhang is level, from the outside of the wall. The tail along the rafter is overhang × the per-foot number ÷ 12.
Lumber is at actual size: 2x6 = 5-1/2″, 2x8 = 7-1/4″, 2x10 = 9-1/4″, 2x12 = 11-1/4″, all 1-1/2″ thick. Walls are a 2x4 (3-1/2″) or a 2x6 (5-1/2″) plate.
Birdsmouth. The seat is the plate plus the sheathing (4″ on a 2x4 wall), but never a notch deeper than one-quarter of the rafter's depth (IRC R802.7.1). On steep pitches that shortens the seat; the app says Seat shortened. Only the plate counts as bearing; when the rafter would get less than 1-1/2″ on the plate (IRC R802.6) the app says Caution · check.
HAP (height above plate) is the rafter's plumb depth less the heel. Ridge height is rise + HAP, measured plumb from the top of the plate to the top of the rafters at the ridge face: where the top of the ridge goes.
Board length adds the tail's long point on the bottom edge and rounds up to an even-foot length, 8′ at the least. It doesn't know what lengths your yard stocks.

Hips and valleys

A hip or valley runs at 45° in plan: 16.97″ of run for every 12″ the commons run. Its per-foot number is √(16.97² + rise²) — 18.00 at 6/12. Its run is the common run × √2.
Shortening at the ridge is half the ridge's thickness measured at 45°: 1-1/16″ for a 2x ridge. It's already in the hip run the app shows.
A hip is dropped: its seat is cut deeper by half the hip's thickness read plumb at the hip's own pitch, so its top edges don't stand above the roof planes. A valley is not dropped. The app shows the drop and the hip's HAP after it.
The cheek cut at the ridge is a double cheek, 3/4″ back from the center line on each face.
Hip lumber starts one size up from the commons until you pick it. When the notch the hip needs is deeper than one-quarter of its depth, the app says Oversized and Caution · check: whether that's acceptable is your call and your inspector's. When the hip can't reach the commons' HAP at all, it says Too shallow.

Jack rafters

The common difference is spacing × the common per-foot number ÷ 12 (the square's table row). Jacks are numbered from the corner at the spacing you pick: 16″ or 24″ on center.
Shortening at the hip is 3/4″ × √2 = 1-1/16″; the long and short points of the cheek are 3/4″ either side of center.
The marks for the jacks along the hip's top edge are the app's own geometry, not a published table: in plan the jack's center meets the hip's face at the jack's run × √2 less 3/4″, then that is stretched by the hip's per-foot number. Check the first one on the floor before you mark the rest.

Count, tape math and the drawings

Count is one piece at the start, one at every mark, and one more when the last space comes up short, times one or two sides, plus whatever you type in Extras. It doesn't know your corners, openings, doubles or fascia; that's what Extras is for.
Tape math works in sixteenths and rounds to the nearest 1/16″. Lengths are capped at 1,000 feet and spaces at 99.
The drawings show where each number is measured from. They are not to scale and they are not shop drawings.

5. The tape on the screen

Tape Pro's tape is for learning and for checking your math. It is not a measuring instrument. Don't measure anything with your phone.

6. What the apps keep on your phone

Rafter Pro saves your numbers, your picks and your notes in the browser on that phone, so they're there next time. Nothing is sent anywhere. Clear all numbers wipes the numbers and picks, Clear notes wipes the notes, and clearing the browser's site data or deleting the app from the home screen wipes all of it. Each phone keeps its own.
Tape Pro keeps a made-up device id and, once you unlock, your pass (the code, the email you paid with, and the end date) in the browser on that phone. Deleting the app or clearing site data removes them; you can type the code again.

What leaves your phone, and when, is in the Privacy Policy, which is part of these terms.

7. Free and paid

Rafter Pro is free for now. We may put a price on it later. If we do, we'll say so in the app first, and anything you've saved on your phone stays yours.
Tape Pro: the Learn tab is free, with no account and no payment. Tapping the tape, typing a measurement, and the Math tab need the pass.

8. The Tape Pro pass

The pass is $4.99 in US dollars, plus any tax the law requires, for one year (365 days). One payment. It does not auto-renew. When the year's up, the tools lock, the Learn tab stays open, and the app asks again: same code, another year.
Payment is taken by Stripe on its own page. We don't see or store your card number.
After you pay, your code (MLAP-XXXXXX) is shown on screen and emailed to the email you paid with. The code only works with that email.
Buying again adds a year to the same code, from the end of the year you're in if it's still running.
One device at a time. Typing the code on a new device moves the pass there; the old device locks the next time it checks in. The app checks the pass with our server when it has a signal.
Lost the code? Type the email you paid with in the app and we'll email it again.
Free passes. We sometimes hand out free passes. They follow the same rules, run for the length we set, have no cash value, and can be ended by us.
No refunds. The Learn tab is free, so you can see how the app works before you pay. If a problem on our side stops your pass from working, email us and we'll fix the pass.
If we change the price, it won't touch a year you've already paid for.

9. Fair use

One pass is for one person. Don't post or share your code.
Don't try to get around the pass, break into our server, or overload it.
Don't copy the apps, or their drawings and wording, to sell or pass off as your own.

10. Other companies' names

The apps don't name other businesses, tools or products, and nothing in them is endorsed by anyone. The framing-square tables are standard math. Any name that appears anywhere belongs to its owner.

11. What we own

The apps, their drawings, wording, code and the name Measure Like a Pro are ours. You get a personal, non-transferable right to use the apps under these terms. Your own numbers and notes are yours.

12. No guarantees

The apps are provided as is. We've checked the math against the square's tables and worked examples, but we don't guarantee that every number is right for your roof, that the apps will always be available, or that they'll work on every phone and browser. To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied.

13. Limits on what we owe

To the fullest extent the law allows, we aren't liable for lumber cut wrong, materials, labor, delays, failed inspections, or any indirect, incidental or consequential loss that comes from using the apps. For anything we are liable for, our total liability is limited to what you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, or $5 if you paid nothing. Some places don't allow some of these limits; where that's the case, they apply only as far as the law permits.

14. Ending things

You can stop using the apps any time; delete them from your phone. We can end a pass or block access if these terms are broken. We can retire or change an app at any time; a pass is for the app as it is while it runs, and no part of it is refunded.

15. Changes to these terms

If these terms change in a way that matters, the date at the top changes. The current version always lives at measurelikeapro.com/terms. Using the apps after a change means you accept it.

16. Children

Anyone can use the free parts of the apps to learn. You must be 18 or older to buy a pass. We don't knowingly collect anything from anyone under 18; if that has happened, email us and we'll delete it.

17. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, USA. If we have a dispute, let's talk first: support@fancydigitalworks.com. If that doesn't settle it, the courts of New York have jurisdiction, unless the law where you live gives you the right to go to court there.