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Drywall & Finishing Calculator

Count sheets, screws, joint compound and tape for a room, minus openings.

The room
ft
ft
ft
Board and framing

Longer sheets mean fewer butt joints, and butt joints are the hardest seams to hide.

Framing spacing
Openings and corners

Each one needs corner bead the full height. A plain rectangular room has none.

%
Pricing
$
$

4.5 gallon ready-mix pail.

Openings are only deducted once an individual opening passes 20 square feet. That is standard estimating practice, not an oversight: the board cut out of a small opening is scrap, the cuts around it take more labor than a full sheet, and deducting a standard door or window would leave you short.

Sheets to order

144 × 12 sheets

584 sq ft of board plus 10% waste, divided by 48 sq ft per sheet.
Board area416 sq ft walls + 168 sq ft ceiling
584 sq ft
Board and compound costScrews, tape and bead are not priced here
$242
Screws32 per sheet at 16" OC — about 1.4 lb
448
Joint compound1 pail at 4.5 gal, three-coat Level 4 allowance
4.4 gal
Joint tape1 roll of 250 ft paper tape
216 lf
Corner bead2 sticks at 8 ft
16 lf

No openings were deducted

Every opening you entered is at or under 20 square feet, so none came off the total. That is correct estimating practice. Deducting a standard door would leave you a sheet short on a room this size.
Full material list
ItemQuantityBasisCost
Drywall, 4 × 1214 sheets642 sq ft with waste ÷ 48 sq ft$224
Drywall screws, 1-1/4 in448 screws32 per sheet at 16 in OC—
Joint compound, all purpose4.4 gal — 1 pail600 sq ft per 4.5 gal pail, taping plus two coats$18
Paper joint tape216 lf — 1 roll0.37 lf per sq ft of board—
Metal corner bead16 lf — 2 sticks2 corners × 8.0 ft—
Priced items14 sheets + 1 pails$242
Surface by surface
SurfaceDimensionsArea
Wall — length side14.0 × 8.0 ft112.0 sq ft
Wall — length side (opposite)14.0 × 8.0 ft112.0 sq ft
Wall — width side12.0 × 8.0 ft96.0 sq ft
Wall — width side (opposite)12.0 × 8.0 ft96.0 sq ft
Ceiling14.0 × 12.0 ft168.0 sq ft
Openings deductedNone over the threshold−0.0 sq ft
Net board areaPlus 10% waste642.4 sq ft

Buy compound short, not long

How much compound a job actually takes varies more than any other line here — it depends on how much you sand back off, whether you are skimming butt joints, and how flat the framing is. The 1 pail above is the middle of the published coverage band, so treat it as the likely number rather than the safe one. Buy that much, start the job, and get more once you can see how it is going rather than stocking up front. Compound is sold everywhere and does not keep well once a pail has been opened.

Level 4 is the residential standard and is what this estimate assumes: tape coat, two fill coats, and the fastener heads spotted. Level 5 adds a skim coat over the entire surface and is worth specifying for a wall in raking light or under gloss paint, where every seam telegraphs. A Level 5 finish adds roughly half again to the compound.

What this assumes

  • Openings smaller than 20 square feet are not deducted, matching standard estimating practice.
  • Screw count assumes roughly 32 screws per 4×8 sheet at 16 inch framing.
  • Compound estimate assumes a three-coat finish to a Level 4 surface.

Understanding the result

Sheet length changes the job

Twelve-foot sheets eliminate butt joints in most rooms, and butt joints are the hardest seams to hide. If the material can physically get into the room, longer sheets produce a noticeably better finish with less compound and less sanding.

Finish levels

Level 4 is the residential standard and is what most estimates assume. Level 5 adds a skim coat over the entire surface and is worth specifying for walls with raking light or a gloss paint, where every seam would otherwise telegraph.

You may also need

The next decision usually follows directly from this one.

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