Estimating Material for your Drywall Installation

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Estimating material for your drywall project

Quality drywalling requires accurate estimations of material. Even though it may not be as much a hassle to run off to the hardware store to get more materials, breaking your stride in the midst of installing your drywall too often can lead to some fair bit of demotivation. 

Drywall/wall board : For every increment of 4 feet of perimeter of room, add one additional 4 x 8 wallboard. A 36 feet perimeter wall will need 9 pieces of 4 x 8 wallboard; thus a 48 feet perimeter room needs 12 pieces of wallboard;

 

  •  A deduction allowance is done for windows, doors, fireplaces, etc.- door : 1/3 wallboard; window : 1/4 wallboard; fireplace : 1/2 wallboard

 

  •  Thus a 14 x 16 ft room (60 ft perimeter: 15 pieces) with 2 windows, a door and a fireplace requires (-1 1/3 of a piece) requires 14 pieces of wallboard (always use the next highest number of wallboards needed when perimeter total is between each 4 ft ranges). This is calculation is for rooms with 8 feet ceiling height or less. 

 

After estimating the number of drywall required, add another 5 percent for waste.

Joint compound : You’ll need roughly a gallon for every 100 square feet of drywall

Joint tape : To finish 500 square feet of drywall, you will need roughly 400 feet of tape

Nails/Screws : This varies depending on stud spacing (walls framed 16 inches on center require more fasteners than those framed at 24 inches) and on nail or screw schedule (panels fastened with adhesive require fewer fasteners). 

You will roughly need one fastener for every square foot of drywall. For example, an 18 x 18 foot ceiling (324 square feet) will need 320 screws/nails; 1 lbs of 1 ¼ inch nails contains about 320 crews, you will need 1 lbs of screws for every 320 square feet of drywall

Extension box – for lifting existing socket to flush with your new drywall; amount dependant on number of sockets you have on your walls.