Concrete and materials

Drywall calculator: how many sheets for a room

Counting drywall comes down to area: the walls and the ceiling, divided by the area of one sheet, plus a margin for cuts. Here it is for one wall and for a whole room.

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How many sheets of drywall do I need for a wall?

Multiply the wall's length by its height for the area in square feet. A 4x8 sheet covers 32 sq ft, a 4x10 covers 40 and a 4x12 covers 48. Divide, add waste, usually 10 to 15 percent, and round up.

Example. A wall 12 ft long and 8 ft high is 96 sq ft. 96 ÷ 32 = 3 sheets of 4x8; with 10 percent waste that is 3.3, so 4 sheets.

How many sheets for a whole room?

Add the perimeter of the room times the wall height to the ceiling area.

Example. A room 12 by 14 ft with an 8 ft ceiling: the walls are 2 × (12 + 14) × 8 = 416 sq ft and the ceiling is 12 × 14 = 168 sq ft, 584 sq ft in all. In 4x8 sheets that is 18.25, or 20.1 with 10 percent waste, so 21 sheets. In 4x12 sheets it is 13.4 with waste, so 14.

Should I subtract doors and windows?

Subtract large openings such as a patio door or a wide window. Leave small ones in: the cuts around them waste about as much as they save.

Which sheet size should I buy?

Longer sheets mean fewer butt joints to tape, which saves finishing time, but they are heavier and harder to get through a house. Hang the ceiling first, then the walls, with the sheet edges on the wall studs.

Drywall in Clad

Clad's drywall tool takes a wall or ceiling length and height, the sheet size and the waste, and gives the area and the sheets to buy. For a whole room, type the perimeter as the length, then add the ceiling as a second line. With a price per sheet, the sheets and their cost go into the job's shopping list.