How Many Studs in a 20 Foot Wall?
Studs to buy
22 studs
20 ft of wall, 8 ft tall, 16 in on center, 2 corners, no openings, 10 % waste.
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How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Wall length20 ft
- Wall height8 ft
- Stud spacing16 in on center
- Doors and windows0 openings
- Average opening width3.5 ft
- Corners2 count
- Partition intersections0 count
- Waste allowance10 %
Studs to buy22 studs
| Wall area | 160 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Field studs | 16at 16 in on center |
| Positions the openings remove | 0 |
| Cripples above and below | 0 |
| Corners and tees | 4two extra at each |
| Kings and jacks | 0four per opening |
| Studs before waste | 20 |
| Rule of thumb check | 20one stud per foot of wall |
| Plate stock | 60 ft4 at 16 ft, bottom plate and double top |
| Header stock | 0 fttwo plies, opening plus 6 in of bearing |
| Sheathing | 5 sheets4 by 8, gross wall, no openings taken off |
The material list this produces
| Studs at 8 ft | 22 |
|---|---|
| Plate stock, 16 ft lengths | 4 |
| Sheathing, 4x8 sheets | 5 |
| 16d framing nails, lb | 4 |
Doors and windows compared
The same 20 ft of wall as doors and windows go into it. The count goes UP with every one.
| Doors and windows | Studs to buy | Kings and jacks | Header stock |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | 22 studs | 0 | 0 ft |
| 1 opening | 28 studs | 4 | 8 ft |
| 2 openings | 33 studs | 8 | 16 ft |
| 3 openings | 39 studs | 12 | 24 ft |
What else matters here
Twenty two studs for a blank 20 ft wall. Putting a door in that wall does not reduce the stud count. It raises it. One 3.5 ft door takes the same wall to 28 studs.
An opening does delete the field studs that would have stood in the hole, and on a 3.5 ft opening that is two of them. But it adds a king stud and a jack stud on each side, which is four, and three cripples. Two out, seven in. It also wants 8 ft of header stock, which is two plies at the opening width plus six inches of bearing.
So the same wall with three openings in it needs 39 studs where the blank wall needed 22.
What this calculator assumes
- Studs are counted position by position: the field studs at your spacing, minus the positions the openings take out, plus the cripples that go back above and below them, plus two extra at every corner and every partition tee, plus a king and a jack on each side of every opening.
- A corner is counted as three studs and a partition tee as three, which is the traditional way. A California corner or a ladder tee uses two plus blocking and saves a stud at each one.
- Cripples are counted as whole studs because they are cut from stock. If you are nesting cuts carefully you will use fewer, and the waste line is where that shows up.
- Plates are one bottom plate and a double top plate, so three times the wall length, and they are priced in 16 ft lengths.
- Headers are figured two plies deep at the opening width plus six inches of bearing. Span, load and species decide the header depth, and that is an engineering question rather than a takeoff one.
- The rule of thumb line is the old one stud per foot of wall at 16 inches on center. It is there as a sanity check, not as the answer.
Questions people ask
How many studs in a 20 foot wall?
22 at 16 in on center with no openings, including a ten percent waste allowance.
Do doors and windows reduce the number of studs?
No, they increase it. An opening deletes the field studs inside it but adds two kings, two jacks and the cripples, which is a net gain every time in this count.
How much header stock does one door need?
Two plies at the opening width plus six inches of bearing, which is 8 ft of stock for a 3.5 ft door.
The framing calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.