Drywall Calculator & Estimator

Drywall boards are used for interior walls and ceilings. It’s become the quickest alternative for plaster, but it does suffer from water damage and corrosion. As such, more often than you may think, homeowners have to replace their existing drywall. Before doing so, you must know exactly how much drywall to purchase. Luckily, the following drywall calculator can do just that.

Once you are ready to install, head to our drywall contractor lead form to connect with your pros in your area.

Drywall Specifics

Drywall boards come in different types of materials. There’s regular whiteboard which comes in a thickness between ¼ and ¾ inches. Fire-resistant also known as Type X has different layers and thickness which increases the resistance of the walls to fire should it occur. Greenboard has green-colored paper that deflects water and is commonly used in bathrooms or laundry areas that have a lot of moisture. Blueboard is called such because of its blue paper, which resists both water and mold. Then there’s cement board, soundboard, soundproof, mold-resistant, and enviroboard—just to name a few of the many others available to homeowners. Depending on the use of the room you plan to drywall and your budget, you can pick the best drywall for your uses. Discuss your plans with a specialist so you can get the best kind for your budget and uses.

Then you have to figure out exactly how much drywall board you need for the room. Standard drywall sheets are 4 x 8 feet. To determine how many, find the measurements of the areas you plan to drywall and round those total areas to the nearest foot. A 10% waste allowance should be added to the total to account for cutting and breakage, which can usually occur during any drywall installation process.

Tips on Measuring for Drywall

Make sure to measure all of the room sections you plan to drywall. Below are the measurements taken to figure out how much drywall material is needed:

• Wall height: length of wall to floor
• Wall perimeter: length of each wall, then add all together
• Ceiling: width and length (if you plan to drywall it)
• Excluded sections: add all widths and heights separately

Sloping walls

Sloping walls all together form a triangular area. Therefore, you can calculate the triangular space by using the area equation: length of the wall at the base of the triangle multiplied by its height and divided by 2.

Last updated on Aug 3, 2017