Sixteenth
Drywall Calculator
Enter the room size and openings. You get the sheets of drywall to buy, the joint tape, the buckets of joint compound and the screws.
Doors count as 21 ft² and windows as 15 ft². Plain numbers are feet.
How much drywall you need
walls = 2 × (length + width) × height − openings
sheets = (walls + ceiling) × (1 + waste) ÷ sheet area
Longer sheets mean fewer butt joints to tape, so 4×12 sheets usually finish faster on long walls if you can get them into the room. Hang the ceiling first, then the walls, top row before bottom.
Finishing materials
Estimates follow gypsum makers' averages per 1,000 ft² of board: about 370 ft of joint tape and 9.4 gallons of ready-mix joint compound for three coats, and about one screw per square foot at 16" on center.
Questions
How many sheets of drywall do I need?
Find the wall area (room perimeter × wall height), add the ceiling if you are covering it, take off doors and windows, add about 10% for waste, and divide by the sheet area: 32 ft² for 4×8, 40 ft² for 4×10, 48 ft² for 4×12.
How much joint compound and tape?
Gypsum makers estimate about 370 ft of tape and 9.4 gallons of ready-mix compound per 1,000 ft² of board. That is roughly one 4.5 gallon bucket per 480 ft².
How many drywall screws per sheet?
About one screw per square foot at 16" on center, so a 4×8 sheet takes about 32 screws.