> I have a spread sheet that has data on buldings set up in such a way
> that the rows are different room types and the columns are Floor Type
> and Sq. Footage. At the bottom of the sheet I have a row that gives
> total square footage for each floor type of all the rooms combined.
> ...
> Is there a way to use an if statement or anything else so that excel
> automatically searches for a certain floor type and only adds the
> square footage for those and puts that value in a cell.

One way is to use SUMIF.

Below is an example as a CSV file that can be loaded into Excel.

(Hopefully, plain ascii text like this doesn't violate the "attachments"
taboo.)

----------------- cut here --------------
cement,12444
wood,1144
cement,4563
carpet,4444
cement,1258
wood,2467
wood,14244
wood,6465
carpet,12345


Totals,
cement,"=SUMIF(A$1:A$11,A13,B$1:B$11)"
wood,"=SUMIF(A$1:A$11,A14,B$1:B$11)"
carpet,"=SUMIF(A$1:A$11,A15,B$1:B$11)"