How Many Studs in an 8 Foot Wall?
Studs to buy
13 studs
8 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 length8 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 buy13 studs
| Wall area | 64 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Field studs | 7at 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 | 11 |
| Rule of thumb check | 8one stud per foot of wall |
| Plate stock | 24 ft2 at 16 ft, bottom plate and double top |
| Header stock | 0 fttwo plies, opening plus 6 in of bearing |
| Sheathing | 2 sheets4 by 8, gross wall, no openings taken off |
The material list this produces
| Studs at 8 ft | 13 |
|---|---|
| Plate stock, 16 ft lengths | 2 |
| Sheathing, 4x8 sheets | 2 |
| 16d framing nails, lb | 3 |
Wall length compared
Watch the last column, which is the one stud per foot rule of thumb. It is under on every row here, by more than half at the top of the table and closing up as the wall gets longer.
| Wall length | Studs to buy | Corners and tees | Rule of thumb check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 ft | 8 studs | 4 | 3 |
| 4 ft | 9 studs | 4 | 4 |
| 6 ft | 10 studs | 4 | 6 |
| 8 ft | 13 studs | 4 | 8 |
| 10 ft | 14 studs | 4 | 10 |
| 12 ft | 16 studs | 4 | 12 |
| 16 ft | 19 studs | 4 | 16 |
What else matters here
Thirteen studs, and the interesting part is that only seven of them are field studs, the ones marching along at 16 in on center.
That is why the old one stud per foot rule gives 8 here and is badly wrong. On a short wall the field studs are barely half the count. The shorter the wall, the worse it gets. At 3 ft the rule says 3 and the real answer is 8, because the corners do not care how long the wall is.
An 8 foot wall can mean 8 feet long or 8 feet tall. This page is a wall 8 feet long, standing 8 feet tall. If what you have is a wall of some other length that happens to be 8 ft tall, change the length at the top and the height stays where it is.
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 an 8 foot wall?
13 at 16 in on center, with a ten percent waste allowance. Seven are field studs and four are the extra corner studs, two at each corner.
Why is it not 8 studs, one per foot?
Because the corner studs come on top of the field studs. On a wall this short the four corner studs are nearly a third of the total.
Does 8 foot wall mean 8 feet long or 8 feet tall?
It can mean either. This page is 8 feet long and 8 feet tall. Change the length field if you meant a different length.
The framing calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.