Drywall calculator
Enter the room, or the wall and ceiling area. You get the sheets to order, the screws, the joint compound and the tape.
Inputs
Result
| Item | Order |
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How it is worked out
A 12 by 10 ft room with an 8 ft ceiling has 352 sq ft of wall. Less a door and a window, 316 sq ft, plus a 120 sq ft ceiling, makes 436 sq ft: 15 sheets of 4 x 8 with 10% waste.
Screws
Screws go into every stud or joist the sheet crosses, every 16 in on walls and every 12 in on ceilings. A 4 x 8 sheet laid across studs at 16 in hits 7 of them, so it takes 28 screws on a wall and 35 on a ceiling. The calculator counts it that way for the sheet size you pick.
Bigger sheets, fewer joints
Longer sheets cost more each but leave fewer butt joints, which are the hardest to finish. On 9 ft walls, 54 in wide sheets laid horizontally cover the height in two rows with no strip at the bottom.
Questions
How many sheets of drywall do I need?
Add up the wall and ceiling area, take off about 21 sq ft per door and 15 per window, add 10% and divide by the sheet's area: 32 sq ft for a 4 x 8. A 12 x 10 room with an 8 ft ceiling takes about 15 sheets.
How many screws per sheet of drywall?
About 28 for a 4 x 8 on a wall with studs at 16 in and screws every 16 in, and about 35 on a ceiling at 12 in. A 4 x 12 takes 40 on a wall.
How much joint compound do I need?
USG puts it at about 10 gallons of ready-mixed all-purpose compound per 1,000 sq ft of board. A 4.5 gallon bucket finishes roughly 450 sq ft.
How much drywall tape do I need?
About 370 ft per 1,000 sq ft of drywall, by USG's figure. A 500 ft roll covers about 1,350 sq ft.
Should I subtract doors and windows?
Yes, but many hangers leave small windows in and count the offcut as waste. The calculator takes them out and adds the waste factor on top.
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