Drywall Calculator - Sheets, Mud, Screws & Cost

How to use it

1. Start in room mode and enter the first room: length, width and ceiling height in feet. Measure the room, not the floor plan, and round up to the next inch rather than down.
2. Choose the surfaces. Walls and ceiling is the usual full-room job, walls only suits a room that keeps its existing ceiling, and ceiling only covers a ceiling replacement or a garage overhead.
3. Count the doors and windows. The defaults are a 3 ft by 7 ft door at 21 sq ft and a 3 ft by 5 ft window at 15 sq ft, and both sizes are editable. Put an archway, a pass-through or a garage door opening in the extra opening field.
4. Add every other room with the add room button. Each row keeps its own name, dimensions, surfaces and openings, and the row shows its own net square footage so you can sanity-check it as you type.
5. Already know your square footage? Switch to total area mode and type it in. Everything downstream works the same way.
6. Pick the sheet size and the panel type. The comparison table below the tool prices the same job at 4x8, 4x9, 4x10 and 4x12 so the choice is a decision rather than a habit.
7. Set the waste allowance from the job complexity buttons, then edit the number if you know your own cutting. Simple rectangular rooms are 10 percent, average rooms with closets and corners 12, angled or sloped or many small rooms 15 and up.
8. Choose the finish level. Level 4 is the residential standard and is the default. Drop to 2 for a garage, go to 5 only where hard light or gloss paint will show every seam.
9. Measure your outside corners and enter the total feet. Window returns, closet corners, soffits and half walls all take corner bead, and it is the line people forget.
10. Walk down the ledger and put your own prices in. Turn on the labor line if you want to compare hanging and finishing it yourself against a contractor's number.

At a glance

• 12 x 12 bedroom, 8 ft ceiling, walls and ceiling, 4x8 sheets: 528 sq ft gross, 36 sq ft of openings, 492 sq ft net. 17 sheets at 10 percent waste, 867 lb, 543 screws, 1 roll of tape, 4.9 gal of compound. About $287 in materials, or $0.58 per square foot.
• 900 sq ft basement, three rooms, 4x12 sheets, level 4: 2,484 sq ft gross, 2,355 sq ft net. 55 sheets at 12 percent waste, 4,208 lb, 2,670 screws, 2 rolls of tape, 23.6 gal of compound, 5 sticks of bead. About $1,363 in materials, and $4,306 with hang and finish labor at $1.25 per square foot.
• 20 x 20 garage, 9 ft walls, 5/8 in Type X, 4x12: 1,120 sq ft gross less a 16 ft overhead door opening and two others, 972 sq ft net. 23 sheets at 105 lb each, 2,415 lb in total, level 2 finish. About $669 in materials. Confirm the Type X requirement with your building department.

How the math works

Every number on this page comes from formulas you can check on paper. Wall area is perimeter x ceiling height, so a 12 by 12 room with an 8 ft ceiling gives 2 x (12 + 12) x 8 = 384 sq ft. Ceiling area is length x width, 144 sq ft here, for 528 sq ft gross. Openings come off the walls only and never take more than the wall area they were cut from: one 21 sq ft door and one 15 sq ft window leave 492 sq ft net. Sheets are net area x (1 + waste) / sheet coverage, rounded up, where coverage is 32, 36, 40 or 48 sq ft for 4x8, 4x9, 4x10 and 4x12. At 10 percent waste that is 492 x 1.10 / 32 = 16.9, so 17 sheets. Taped joint length is net area x (1/4 + 1/L), where L is the sheet length in feet, and butt joint length alone is net area x (1/L). Those are not fudge factors: tile any surface with 4 ft by L ft rectangles and the interior edge length per square foot is exactly (4 + L) / 4L. At 4x8 it works out to 0.375 linear feet per square foot, which is the trade's familiar 370 feet of tape per 1,000 square feet arriving from geometry rather than from a table, and it is why a 4x12 sheet cuts butt joints by a third. Screws are wall area x 1 plus ceiling area x 1.35, because wall framing at 16 in on center takes about 32 screws to a 4x8 sheet while ceiling spacing tightens to 12 in, and 1-1/4 in coarse screws run about 320 to the pound. Joint compound at level 4 is net area / 100 gallons, the published coverage of about one gallon per 100 sq ft of board for a tape coat and two fill coats, which is the same thing as one gallon doing three 4x8 sheets. Lower levels take less and level 5 adds a skim coat over every square foot, so it runs about 60 percent more than level 4. Compound is bought as 4.5 gal boxes topped up with 1 gal pails, and setting-type compound is figured at about 2 gallons mixed from an 18 lb bag for the tape coat share. Corner bead sticks are outside corner feet / stick length, rounded up. Panel weight is coverage x 1.59 lb per sq ft for 1/2 in standard, 1.28 for lightweight, 2.19 for 5/8 in Type X and 1.69 for 1/2 in moisture-resistant, which is where the 51 lb, 41 lb, 70 lb and 54 lb figures on a 4x8 sheet come from. Cost is each quantity at a price you can edit, and cost per square foot is the total divided by net area, not by floor area.

1. 1. Measure each room and get to a gross square footage

   Walls are perimeter x ceiling height. Add the length and the width, double it, multiply by the height: a 12 by 12 room with an 8 ft ceiling is 2 x (12 + 12) x 8 = 384 sq ft of wall. The ceiling is length x width, another 144 sq ft, for 528 sq ft gross. Measure the room itself rather than a floor plan, because a plan gives you framed dimensions and the board goes on the inside face. If a ceiling height varies, use the tallest measurement and let the difference ride in the waste allowance.

2. 2. Decide whether to deduct the openings, then deduct them

   A standard 3 ft by 7 ft door is 21 sq ft and a 3 ft by 5 ft window is 15 sq ft, so the bedroom above drops to 492 sq ft net. Both sizes are editable and an archway or a garage door opening goes in the extra opening field. Here is the judgement call that catches people out: plenty of hangers do not deduct standard doors and windows at all. They run the board straight past the opening and cut it out afterwards, which keeps joints off the corners of the opening where cracks start. If that is how you work, turn the deduction off and treat the extra board as your waste allowance instead of stacking both.

3. 3. Add the waste allowance before you divide

   Waste in drywall is not breakage, it is offcuts too small to use. Ten percent is the floor and it only holds on big rectangular rooms with long uninterrupted walls. Twelve percent is normal once closets, corners and a stairwell are involved, and fifteen to twenty is right for angled or sloped ceilings or a run of small rooms, because every small room means more cuts against the same square footage. On 492 sq ft at 10 percent you are buying for 541 sq ft.

4. 4. Divide by the sheet coverage and round up

   Coverage is 32 sq ft for a 4x8, 36 for a 4x9, 40 for a 4x10 and 48 for a 4x12. So 541 / 32 = 16.9, which is 17 sheets, and 17 sheets cover 544 sq ft. Always round up at the job total rather than room by room: rounding each of three rooms up separately can add two or three sheets you do not need, because in real life the offcut from one room gets used in the next. The leftover figure in the result is what is genuinely spare after the waste allowance, which on this job is about 3 sq ft.

5. 5. Take off the finishing, which is where the work really is

   Screws come to about one per square foot on walls, roughly 32 to a 4x8 sheet at 16 in framing, and about 1.35 per square foot on ceilings where the spacing tightens to 12 in. That is 543 screws on the bedroom, and at 320 screws to the pound it is 2 lb. Tape is net area x (1/4 + 1/L): 185 ft here, so one 500 ft roll. Compound at level 4 is net area / 100 gallons, so 4.9 gal, which is one 4.5 gal box plus a 1 gal pail rather than two boxes. Corner bead is outside corner feet divided by the stick length, rounded up.

6. 6. Price it, then price the alternative

   Seventeen sheets at $14, a box and a pail of compound at $19 and $12, a roll of tape at $8 and 2 lb of screws at $5 comes to $287, which is $0.58 per square foot of board. Add hang labor at $0.55 and finish labor at $0.70 per square foot and the same room is about $902 installed, or $1.83 per square foot, which is the number to hold a contractor's quote against. Then look at the four-size table: the same room in 4x12 is 12 sheets instead of 17 and 11 percent less tape, but each sheet weighs 76 lb.

Worked scenarios, start to finish

Real jobs with the numbers carried all the way through, so you can see how the estimate is built and check your own figures against them.

The judgement calls a pro makes

Decisions the tool cannot make for you, and how someone who does this for a living thinks them through.

Whether to deduct doors and windows at all

This tool will do it either way, and both answers are defensible. Deducting is the accurate takeoff: on the reference bedroom it saves 36 sq ft, about one sheet. Not deducting is what a lot of production hangers do, because running the board straight past an opening and cutting it out afterwards keeps a seam away from the corner of the opening, which is exactly where drywall cracks first. The mistake is doing both at once: deducting every opening AND running a thin 10 percent waste allowance, which is how people end up one sheet short on a Sunday. If you deduct, keep waste at 12 percent or more. If you do not deduct, 10 percent is fine because the openings are already your cushion.

4x8, 4x10 or 4x12

The answer is decided by your access, not by arithmetic. A 4x12 sheet is 12 ft long and 76 lb in 1/2 in standard, and it will not turn a tight stair corner or fit through a standard door at an angle. If it fits, buy it: on a 2,355 sq ft basement it means 55 sheets instead of 83, and a third less butt-joint footage, which is the joint that has no factory taper and therefore takes the widest float and the most sanding. A 4x9 exists for one specific reason, a 9 ft ceiling in two horizontal courses with no filler strip, and it is worth ordering for that alone. Where access is genuinely bad, take the extra joints and hang 4x8, because a sheet you cannot get into the room is worth nothing.

Which finish level the room really needs

Level 4 is the residential standard and the right default for a bedroom, a living room or a hallway getting flat or eggshell paint. Level 5 adds a skim coat over the entire surface, which roughly doubles the compound and the sanding, and it is only worth it where hard raking light crosses a wall, where gloss or semi-gloss paint will be used, or on a large uninterrupted wall opposite a window. Level 2 is right for a garage, a workshop or behind cabinets, and level 1 is for a plenum or a space above a dropped ceiling. Picking level 5 for a whole house is a common and expensive overspend; picking level 3 for a wall that gets afternoon side light is a cheap mistake you will look at for years.

Lightweight board, or standard

Lightweight 1/2 in is about 41 lb a sheet against 51 lb for standard, which is a fifth off every lift and matters most on ceilings and stairs. It costs a little more and it is slightly softer, so it dents more easily in a hallway that takes traffic and furniture. The honest rule: lightweight for ceilings and for anyone working alone or without a lift, standard where the wall will take abuse or where you are hanging with a crew and the weight is not the constraint. Do not mix thicknesses on the same plane, because a 1/2 in sheet next to a 5/8 in sheet leaves a step no amount of compound hides.

Where Type X and moisture-resistant board belong

Type X is fire-rated 5/8 in board. Codes based on the IRC generally call for it on a garage ceiling where there is habitable space above, and for gypsum board on the garage side of a garage-to-house separation wall, and some assemblies specify it elsewhere. Requirements vary by jurisdiction and by assembly, so treat this page as a pointer and confirm the board, the thickness and the fastener schedule with your local building department before you order. Moisture-resistant board is a different question entirely and is not a code item: it handles humidity in a bathroom or a laundry, but it is not waterproof and it is not a tile backer. Where tile meets water it is cement backer board, which is sized on the tile calculator, not here.

Hang the ceiling first, and hang it perpendicular

Ceilings go up before walls, always, so the top edge of every wall sheet pushes the ceiling board tight and holds it. Run ceiling sheets perpendicular to the joists, because that way each sheet crosses several joists and the board itself straightens minor framing errors instead of following them. On walls, hanging horizontally puts the seam at about 4 ft, which is a comfortable height to tape and reads flatter across a room than a run of vertical seams. Vertical hanging is standard in commercial work and on walls over about 9 ft, where a horizontal seam would land awkwardly anyway.

Ready-mix, lightweight or setting-type compound

All-purpose ready-mix does every coat and bonds best, which makes it the right choice for the tape coat, but it is heavy and hard to sand. Lightweight ready-mix sands far more easily and shrinks less, which makes it the right choice for the last two coats, so a lot of people buy one box of each rather than one type for the whole job. Setting-type compound is a powder that hardens chemically on a clock rather than by drying, in 20, 45 or 90 minute versions. It lets you tape and coat on the same day, it barely shrinks, and it is what to use on a butt joint or a deep patch. It also does not sand nicely and it is unforgiving of a slow worker, so mix small batches and keep it for the coats where speed and strength matter.

Common mistakes, and the fix

• × Deducting every door and window and then ordering with a thin waste factor.

  ✓ Pick one cushion, not neither and not both. If you deduct openings, use 12 percent or more waste. If you leave them in, 10 percent is enough because the openings themselves are the cushion. Deducting 36 sq ft on a small bedroom and then running 8 percent waste is how a job ends up one sheet short with the stores closed.

• × Rounding each room up to a whole sheet before adding them up.

  ✓ Round up once, on the job total. Three rooms needing 12.3, 11.4 and 10.2 sheets is 33.9, so 34 sheets, not 13 plus 12 plus 11 which is 36. Offcuts genuinely do carry from room to room, and two extra sheets is $28 and a storage problem.

• × Ordering 4x12 sheets that cannot physically reach the room.

  ✓ Walk the route before you order: the front door, the turn at the bottom of the stairs, the stairwell ceiling. A 4x12 sheet needs about 13 ft of diagonal clearance to turn a corner. If any part of the route is tight, order 4x8 and accept the extra joints, or have the supplier deliver through a window opening.

• × Buying the wrong compound for the tape coat.

  ✓ Lightweight all-purpose is lovely to sand and weak in a tape coat, where you actually want bond and body. Use all-purpose or a setting-type compound to embed the tape, then switch to lightweight for the fill and finish coats. Tape bedded in the wrong mud shows up as bubbles and edge cracks a month after the paint.

• × Screwing ceilings at wall spacing.

  ✓ Ceilings need screws about every 12 in, not 16, because gravity works on the board all day and gypsum sags. That is why this tool figures ceilings at 1.35 screws per square foot rather than 1. Use 5/8 in board or sag-resistant board on ceilings framed at 24 in on center.

• × Ignoring what the load actually weighs.

  ✓ A 55 sheet order of 4x12 half-inch board is 4,208 lb. That is not a pickup load, it is a delivery, and it needs somewhere to sit flat and dry. Stand sheets on edge against a wall rather than leaning them at an angle, and never stack them flat on a floor you plan to walk over, because face damage on the paper is permanent.

• × Forgetting corner bead until the compound is already on.

  ✓ Every outside corner needs bead: window returns, a closet, a soffit, a half wall, a chase around a beam. Measure the total feet at takeoff and divide by 8 or 10, rounded up. Bead is cheap and it is the difference between a crisp corner and a rounded one, but adding it after the first coat means chipping mud back out of the corner.

Material and unit specifics

Sheet sizes and what each one is for

Drywall is 4 ft wide, full stop, and comes in 8, 9, 10 and 12 ft lengths, covering 32, 36, 40 and 48 sq ft. The 4x8 is the universal size because it fits a car roof, a stairwell and a standard door. The 4x9 exists almost entirely for 9 ft ceilings, where two horizontal courses cover the wall with no filler strip. The 4x10 and 4x12 are the pro sizes on long walls: fewer butt joints, less taping, more weight. Thickness is a separate choice: 1/2 in is standard for walls and ceilings, 5/8 in is used where fire rating or stiffness over 24 in framing is needed, and 1/4 in and 3/8 in exist for curves and for laminating over existing wall surfaces.

Panel weight, sheet by sheet

A 4x8 sheet is about 51 lb in 1/2 in standard, 41 lb in 1/2 in lightweight, 54 lb in 1/2 in moisture-resistant and 70 lb in 5/8 in Type X. Scale that by coverage for the longer sheets: a 4x12 in 1/2 in standard is about 76 lb and the same size in 5/8 in Type X is about 105 lb. Those numbers decide the job as much as the price does. Anything over 70 lb is a two-person lift on a wall, and no ceiling sheet over about 50 lb should go up without a panel lift, which rents for roughly $40 a day and is the single best money spent on any drywall job.

Joint compound, and what a gallon actually does

Ready-mix comes in 4.5 gal boxes and buckets weighing about 62 lb, and in 1 gal pails for top-ups. The working figure for a level 4 finish is about one gallon per 100 sq ft of board, tape coat plus two fill coats, which is the same as one gallon doing three 4x8 sheets. A single bedroom at 492 sq ft therefore takes about 4.9 gal, one box and a pail rather than two boxes. Setting-type compound is sold as an 18 lb bag of powder that mixes to roughly 2 gal, and it sets on a clock rather than by drying, which is what makes same-day taping and coating possible.

Tape: paper, mesh and where each one belongs

Paper tape is the default and it is stronger, because it has essentially no stretch, which is exactly what a joint needs. It has to be bedded in wet compound. Fiberglass mesh tape is self-adhesive and much easier for a first-timer on a flat seam, but it stretches, so it must be coated with setting-type compound rather than ready-mix or the joint will crack. Inside corners want paper, creased down the middle, every time. Rolls are 250 ft or 500 ft; this tool counts 500 ft rolls, and at 4x8 sheets a job needs about 370 ft of tape per 1,000 sq ft of board.

Screws: length, thread and count

Use 1-1/4 in coarse-thread screws for 1/2 in board on wood framing and 1-5/8 in for 5/8 in board. Fine thread is for steel studs, and using it in wood strips the hole. Coarse 1-1/4 in screws run about 320 to the pound, so a 1 lb box is about 320 screws and a 5 lb box about 1,600. Count on roughly 32 screws to a 4x8 wall sheet at 16 in framing and closer to 43 on a ceiling at 12 in spacing. Set each screw just below the paper without breaking it: a screw that tears the face has no holding power and has to be replaced an inch away.

Corner bead, and the three kinds

Metal bead is the traditional choice, nailed or screwed, crisp and cheap, and it dents if a vacuum hits it. Vinyl bead will not rust or dent, which makes it right for a bathroom or a basement, and it is glued or stapled. Paper-faced metal bead is the professional favourite because it beds in compound like tape and gives the straightest corner with the least fuss. All three come in 8 ft and 10 ft sticks. Measure every outside corner, including short window returns, and round up: a corner spliced from two offcuts always shows.

2026 planning prices in the US

As a mid-band range at the big boxes: a 1/2 in standard 4x8 sheet runs about $13 to $16 and a 4x12 about $19 to $24, 5/8 in Type X 4x8 about $16 to $19, and moisture-resistant about $18 to $21. A 4.5 gal box of all-purpose compound is $17 to $21, a 500 ft roll of paper tape $7 to $10, a 5 lb box of screws about $22, and corner bead $4 to $6 a stick. For labor, hanging typically runs $0.40 to $0.65 per square foot and finishing $0.50 to $0.90 depending on level, so hang and finish together commonly lands between $1.10 and $1.55, with the whole job installed usually quoted between $1.50 and $3.00 per square foot. Every one of these is an editable default here, because regional spreads are wide and a national average is nobody's actual price.

Reading your result

The headline sheet count is an order quantity, not a measurement, so read it with the leftover figure beside it. Seventeen sheets covering 544 sq ft against 541 sq ft of board plus waste means the order is tight and correct; if the leftover instead reads two thirds of a sheet, you are carrying a spare panel, which is often the right call on a job with awkward cuts and always the right call if the store is far away. Net area is the number to price against, not floor area: a 900 sq ft basement is 2,355 sq ft of board, which is why contractor quotes that sound high per floor square foot are usually reasonable per board square foot. The four-size comparison is the most useful table on this page, and it is not really about the sheet count. It is about butt joints, the seams with no factory taper, which run 1/L linear feet per square foot and therefore drop by a third when you move from 4x8 to 4x12. Those are the joints that show under a lamp two years later, so trading weight and access for fewer of them is usually a good trade if the sheets can physically reach the room. In the finishing takeoff, the compound figure is the one that surprises people: it is bought in 4.5 gal boxes, so a small job crosses a box boundary quickly, and the tool offers pails rather than pushing you to a second box you will half use and let skin over. Read the cost ledger as a shopping list you wrote yourself. With labor off it is your materials at your prices, which is what makes it useful for choosing between 4x8 and 4x12 or between level 4 and level 5. With labor on it is a yardstick to hold a quote against, not a quote of its own, because your market, your access and your finish level move that number more than anything on this page can know.

Limitations

• This is a materials planning estimate, not a bid and not a fire-rating document. It sizes board, fasteners and compound; it does not design an assembly or certify a rated wall.
• Rectangular rooms with a flat ceiling. Sloped or cathedral ceilings, soffits, tray ceilings, dormers and curved walls need to be broken into rectangles you enter as separate rooms, or measured by hand.
• Openings come off the walls only. If you are boarding a ceiling with a large skylight opening, subtract it yourself in the extra opening field of a walls-only row.
• The screw count assumes framing at 16 in on center for walls and 12 in fastener spacing on ceilings. Framing at 24 in on center changes the count and may change the board thickness your code requires.
• Compound and tape quantities are working averages for a competent job. A first-timer applying compound thickly can use half again as much, and a wall with badly bowed framing can use much more.
• Labor rates are editable planning ranges, not quotes. Market, access, ceiling height, finish level and how much prep the framing needs move them more than any national average.
• Imperial units only, in feet and inches, consistent with the rest of the site. There is no metric mode.
• Fire-rated and code questions are pointers here, not answers. Confirm board type, thickness and fastener schedule with your local building department.

Frequently asked questions

How many sheets of drywall do I need for a 12x12 room?

For a 12 by 12 room with an 8 ft ceiling, doing walls and ceiling, you need 17 sheets of 4x8 drywall. The arithmetic: walls are 2 x (12 + 12) x 8 = 384 sq ft, the ceiling is 144 sq ft, so 528 sq ft gross. Take off a 21 sq ft door and a 15 sq ft window and you have 492 sq ft net. Add 10 percent waste for offcuts to get 541 sq ft, divide by the 32 sq ft a 4x8 sheet covers, and round up: 17 sheets. Walls only, without the ceiling, it is 12 sheets. In 4x12 sheets the same room takes 12 sheets covering the walls and ceiling. Expect about 867 lb of board, 543 screws, one roll of tape and about 5 gallons of joint compound with it.

How much does it cost to drywall a room, and what is the price per square foot installed?

Materials for that 12 by 12 bedroom come to roughly $287: $238 of board, $31 of joint compound, $8 of tape and $10 of screws, which is about $0.58 per square foot of board. Hiring it out adds hanging at roughly $0.40 to $0.65 per square foot and finishing at $0.50 to $0.90 depending on the finish level, so the same room installed is commonly quoted around $900, or about $1.83 per square foot of board. Note that per square foot of board, not per square foot of floor: a 12 by 12 room is 144 sq ft of floor but 492 sq ft of drywall, which is why a quote can look expensive until you convert it. A 900 sq ft basement in three rooms is 2,355 sq ft of board and lands near $1,363 in materials or about $4,300 hung and finished. Put your own prices into the ledger on this page rather than trusting any national figure.

How much joint compound and tape do I need per 1,000 sq ft?

For 1,000 sq ft of drywall finished to level 4, budget about 10 gallons of joint compound and 375 feet of tape. The compound figure comes from the published coverage of roughly one gallon per 100 sq ft of board for a tape coat plus two fill coats, which is the same as one gallon doing three 4x8 sheets, so 1,000 sq ft is a bit over two 4.5 gal boxes. The tape figure is the trade's familiar 370 ft per 1,000 sq ft, and it falls out of the geometry: taped joint length is net area x (1/4 + 1/L) where L is your sheet length, which is 0.375 ft per sq ft at 4x8 and 0.333 at 4x12. Per 4x8 sheet, that is about a third of a gallon of compound and 12 ft of tape. Level 5 adds a skim coat over everything and takes about 60 percent more compound than level 4; level 2 takes about 60 percent less.

Should I buy 4x8 or 4x12 drywall sheets?

Buy 4x12 if you can physically get the sheets to the room, and 4x8 if you cannot. On a 2,355 sq ft basement, 4x12 sheets mean 55 panels instead of 83, about 11 percent less taped joint length, and, more importantly, a third less butt-joint footage. Butt joints are the seams where two sheet ends meet with no factory taper, they need the widest float and the most sanding, and they are the ones that show under raking light years later. The cost against that is weight and access: a 4x12 sheet of 1/2 in board is about 76 lb against 51 lb for a 4x8, and it needs roughly 13 ft of diagonal clearance to turn a corner, so a tight stairwell or a standard doorway at an angle can rule it out. Walk the route from the delivery point to the room before you order. There is also a 4x9, which exists mainly for 9 ft ceilings covered in two horizontal courses with no filler strip.

How many drywall screws do I need per sheet?

About 32 screws for a 4x8 sheet on a wall with framing at 16 in on center, and closer to 43 on a ceiling, where fastener spacing tightens to about 12 in because gypsum sags under its own weight. That works out to roughly one screw per square foot on walls and 1.35 per square foot on ceilings, which is how this calculator counts them. Coarse-thread 1-1/4 in screws run about 320 to the pound, so a 1 lb box is about 320 screws and a 5 lb box about 1,600. Use 1-1/4 in for 1/2 in board on wood framing and 1-5/8 in for 5/8 in board, and use fine thread only on steel studs. Drive each screw just below the paper surface without tearing it, because a screw that breaks the face has no holding power and needs replacing about an inch away.

How much does drywall repair cost?

A patch is priced differently from a hang, which is why this page sizes new work rather than repairs. As planning numbers, a small nail-hole or dent patch is a $10 job in materials and most handymen charge a minimum call-out of $100 to $200 for it. A hole up to about a foot across, patched with a piece of board, backing strips, tape and three coats, is typically $150 to $350 depending on texture matching. A full sheet replacement after a leak or a plumbing repair usually runs $250 to $500 for one sheet including finish and paint, because the labor is the same whether it is one sheet or three. If your repair is really a re-board of a whole wall or ceiling, measure it as a room here with walls-only or ceiling-only selected and you will get a real materials list. The cost driver in every repair is matching the existing texture and paint sheen, not the drywall.

Is sheetrock the same as drywall?

Yes, for the purpose of ordering material. Sheetrock is a brand name owned by USG, in the same way that Kleenex is a brand of tissue, and it has become a generic word for gypsum wallboard across much of the United States. Drywall, wallboard, gypsum board and plasterboard all describe the same product: a gypsum core faced with paper. Everything on this page applies whichever word your supplier uses, and the sizes, weights, screw counts and compound coverage are identical. The one place the distinction matters is when a specification calls for a particular branded product for a rated assembly, where a fire-rating listing may be tied to a specific manufacturer's board. In that case buy exactly what the specification names and confirm it with your building department.