How Much Drywall Do I Need? Calculate Drywall and Materials

If you’re planning a renovation or building a new home, you’ll need to consider how much drywall you need to finish the interior rooms. Luckily, estimating your drywall needs is simple. This guide covers the math required to determine how much drywall you need.

How Much Drywall Do I Need?

To determine how many drywall sheets you need for a project, you’ll need to know the square footage of the wall and the size of the drywall sheets you’re using. Below is an example of the number of sheets required for various-sized rooms, based on three common drywall sheet sizes.

• 4-by-8-foot sheets cover 32 square feet. You can hang this type of drywall vertically or horizontally.

• 4-by-12-foot sheets are ideal for tall or long walls and cover 48 square feet. A larger size allows you to hang a single sheet from the floor to the ceiling in a tall room. 

• 4-by-16-foot sheets cover 64 square feet and require multiple people to install. They can cover longer and taller walls.

Calculating How Much Drywall You Need

To determine how much drywall you’ll need for your project, divide the square footage of the room by the size of your drywall sheet, like so:

If you calculate a decimal, round it up to the nearest whole number to determine how many drywall sheets you need. For example, if your room is 600 square feet and you use 4-by-8 drywall sheets, you’d round 18.75 up to 19 total sheets. Don’t forget to add 10% to account for overage.

How to Measure a Room for Drywall

Ready to get started? Here’s how to measure the amount of materials you need for your drywall installation project.

How to Measure Walls for Drywall Installation

The first step in determining how much drywall you need is to calculate the square footage of the space. Follow these steps to measure your room and determine the amount of drywall needed for your project:

• Measure the width and height of each wall

• Multiply the width by the height to get the wall’s square footage

• Add the square footage of each wall together to get the room’s square footage

• Divide the total square footage by the size of the drywall board (for example, an 8-by-4-foot drywall board covers 32 square feet)

• Round the resulting number to the nearest whole number

• Add in 10% to account for overage

For example, a room with two 10x12-foot walls and two 10x8-foot walls has a total square footage of 400. Using 4x12-foot drywall boards, you’d need at least nine drywall boards to cover the room, including overage. Hiring a drywall contractor helps ensure you correctly estimate your drywall needs.

How to Measure for Additional Material Needs

You’ll need additional materials beyond just drywall sheets for this project. Here’s how to estimate the amount of materials you need for your project:

• Drywall tape goes around the perimeter of the drywall board. Add the length of each side together to get the total linear feet and determine the amount of drywall tape you need.

• Joint compound or drywall mud smooths the seams between drywall boards and covers imperfections to lessen the chances of paying for drywall repair costs in the future. You’ll need 0.053 pounds of joint compound per square foot of drywall.

• Drywall screws or nails help hold the drywall boards in place, and you’ll need one per every square foot of drywall. 

• Corner beads are installed in the room's corners and measure eight or 10 feet long. Add the length of all corners and divide by the length of the beads to determine how many you need.

Who to Hire to Drywall Your Home

Drywall installation is a doable project for a DIYer with the right comfort level and experience. However, if you’ve never installed drywall before, you might prefer to hire a local drywall installer to do the drywalling for you. Drywall installation costs between $1,000 and $3,250, which includes materials and labor. Labor accounts for about $1 to $2.10 per square foot, so you can certainly save money by installing it yourself. However, if you make a mistake, it may cost you more to fix it than you saved on labor costs initially.