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Drywall Calculators

Drywall calculators for sheets, joint compound, tape, and screw estimates. Calculate materials and costs for any room size.

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Drywall is counted in sheets, but the cost is in the compound and the labour.

Sheet count is straightforward: wall and ceiling area divided by 32 square feet for a 4 by 8 sheet, or 48 for a 4 by 12. Longer sheets mean fewer joints, which is why professionals prefer 12 foot board even though it is harder to carry. Every joint you avoid is joint tape, three coats of compound and a sanding pass you do not have to do.

Compound and tape are what people forget. A room takes roughly one gallon of all-purpose compound per 100 square feet across all coats, plus about 400 feet of tape per 1,000 square feet of board. Screws run around 1,000 per 1,000 square feet at standard spacing.

Settle this before you calculate

Ceiling height against sheet length
An 8 foot wall takes one horizontal 4 by 8 course with no cuts. A 9 foot wall needs a strip, which adds a joint the whole way round.
Board type by room
Standard for most rooms, moisture-resistant in bathrooms, and 5/8 fire-rated where code requires it on garage ceilings and party walls.
Joint length, not just area
Tape and compound scale with joint length. A room broken up by openings has far more joint per square foot than an open wall.

Where the estimate goes wrong

Ordering sheets and nothing else
Add compound, tape, screws and corner bead to the order. They are cheap individually and a separate trip for them costs a morning.
Using 8 foot sheets on tall walls
Longer board on a 9 or 10 foot wall removes a full-length butt joint, which is the hardest joint to finish invisibly.
Hanging board on ceilings last
Ceilings go up first so the wall sheets support their edges. Doing it the other way leaves the ceiling perimeter unsupported.

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