Drywall Sheet Chart by Square Footage
Fourteen job sizes against the three sheet sizes, with the compound, tape and screws for each so the whole delivery is on one line.
Drywall is counted by the sheet, and the sheet size changes the count more than anything else on the job. A 4 by 12 covers half again what a 4 by 8 does, which is fewer sheets to hang and considerably fewer butt joints to finish.
Every row includes a 10 percent waste allowance. The square footage you look up is walls plus ceilings, not floor area, so measure both before using this table.
Sheets, compound, tape and screws by wall area
| Area | With waste | 4 x 8 | 4 x 10 | 4 x 12 | Mud, buckets | Tape | Screws |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 sq ft | 220 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 84 lf | 224 |
| 400 sq ft | 440 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 168 lf | 448 |
| 600 sq ft | 660 | 21 | 17 | 14 | 2 | 251 lf | 672 |
| 800 sq ft | 880 | 28 | 22 | 19 | 2 | 335 lf | 896 |
| 1,000 sq ft | 1,100 | 35 | 28 | 23 | 3 | 418 lf | 1,120 |
| 1,200 sq ft | 1,320 | 42 | 33 | 28 | 3 | 502 lf | 1,344 |
| 1,500 sq ft | 1,650 | 52 | 42 | 35 | 4 | 627 lf | 1,664 |
| 1,800 sq ft | 1,980 | 62 | 50 | 42 | 5 | 753 lf | 1,984 |
| 2,000 sq ft | 2,200 | 69 | 55 | 46 | 5 | 836 lf | 2,208 |
| 2,400 sq ft | 2,640 | 83 | 66 | 55 | 6 | 1,004 lf | 2,656 |
| 2,800 sq ft | 3,080 | 97 | 77 | 65 | 7 | 1,171 lf | 3,104 |
| 3,200 sq ft | 3,520 | 110 | 88 | 74 | 8 | 1,338 lf | 3,520 |
| 4,000 sq ft | 4,400 | 138 | 110 | 92 | 10 | 1,672 lf | 4,416 |
| 5,000 sq ft | 5,500 | 172 | 138 | 115 | 12 | 2,090 lf | 5,504 |
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The drywall calculator takes your own measurements and returns the number for your job, plus the material list as a printable document. Every cell in the table above came out of that same calculator, run at build time.
Why a longer sheet is usually the right call
A 4 by 12 sheet on a 12 foot wall gives you a wall with no butt joint in it at all. Butt joints are the ones without a tapered edge, which means they are finished by building the compound out wide enough to hide a bump, and they are where a bad drywall job announces itself.
The trade off is weight and access. A half inch 4 by 12 is around 80 pounds and does not go up a stairwell or around a tight corner on its own. If the room cannot take the sheet, the sheet is the wrong size no matter how good the joint count looks.
Half inch, five eighths, and where each belongs
Half inch is the normal wall board. Five eighths type X is what goes on a garage ceiling shared with living space, on a common wall between a house and a garage, and anywhere else the fire rating is called out. It is also stiffer, which is why some builders use it on 24 inch on center ceilings regardless.
Moisture resistant board belongs behind a tub surround only if there is no tile going over it. Tile in a wet area wants cement board or a proper membrane, and that is a code question worth checking locally.
The rest of the delivery
Count on about a 4.5 gallon bucket of all purpose compound per 400 square feet for a standard three coat finish, more if the job is getting a level 5 skim. Tape runs roughly 0.4 linear feet per square foot of board.
Screws land around 32 per sheet on 16 inch framing, so a 100 sheet job is well over 3,000 screws, which is a 25 pound box rather than a handful. Buy corner bead by the actual outside corners you counted, not from the rough guess in the table.
Questions people ask
How many sheets of drywall for a 12 x 12 room?
Walls and ceiling on a 12 by 12 room with an 8 foot ceiling is about 528 square feet, which is roughly 19 sheets of 4 by 8 with waste. Look up 500 or 600 square feet in the table above.
How much drywall mud per sheet?
About one 4.5 gallon bucket per 400 square feet of board, which is roughly one bucket per 12 sheets of 4 by 8, for a standard taped and three coat finish.
How many screws per sheet of drywall?
About 32 on 16 inch on center framing, using the common pattern of screws every 12 inches in the field and every 8 inches on the edges. Ceilings take more than walls.
Should I use 4x8 or 4x12 sheets?
Use the longest sheet the room and the crew can handle, because the whole point is fewer butt joints. On tall walls and long hallways that is 4 by 12. In a stairwell or a small bath it is 4 by 8.