How Much Drywall for a 10x12 Room?
Drywall sheets
17 sheets
Four walls at 8 feet tall plus a 10 by 12 ceiling: 472 square feet, no openings deducted.
When the figures look right, the drywall material list downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.
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.
- Total area to cover472 sq ft
- Sheet size4 x 8 ft, 32 sq ft
- Waste allowance10 %
Drywall sheets17 sheets
| Area with 10% waste | 519 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Sheets at 32 sq ft | 17 |
| Joint compound, 4.5 gal buckets | 2 |
| Joint tape | 198 lf |
| Screws | 544 (about 2 lb) |
| Corner bead, rough guess | 32 lf |
The material list this produces
| Drywall sheets | 17 |
|---|---|
| Joint compound, 4.5 gal buckets | 2 |
| Joint tape, linear ft | 198 |
| Drywall screws, lb | 2 |
Sheet size compared
Longer sheets mean fewer butt joints and less taping. Same area, three sheet sizes.
| Sheet size | Drywall sheets |
|---|---|
| 4 x 8 ft | 17 sheets |
| 4 x 10 ft | 13 sheets |
| 4 x 12 ft | 11 sheets |
What else matters here
The room is 120 square feet of floor and 472 square feet of board. That ratio catches people out every time, because a quote priced off the floor area is pricing a quarter of the work.
The arithmetic is the perimeter times the wall height, plus the ceiling. Forty four feet around times eight feet tall is 352 square feet of wall, plus 120 of ceiling, which is 472. Change the ceiling height and only the first number moves.
Seventeen sheets at eight feet each, hung horizontally, gives two rows per wall with the joint at four feet. That joint sits at chest height where it is easy to tape flat, which is the entire reason residential drywall is hung the long way round rather than standing up.
What this calculator assumes
- Joint compound is figured at one 4.5 gallon bucket per 475 sq ft of board for a full three coat finish. A level 5 finish uses more.
- Tape is figured at 380 linear feet per 1000 sq ft of board, screws at 32 per sheet for 16 inch on center framing.
- Longer sheets mean fewer butt joints, which is less taping and a flatter wall. Use 12 footers where they will fit through the door.
Questions people ask
How many sheets of drywall for a 10x12 room?
Seventeen sheets of 4 by 8 for walls and ceiling together, with a ten percent waste allowance.
How do you work out drywall area from a room size?
Perimeter times wall height, plus the ceiling area. A 10 by 12 room with 8 foot walls is 44 by 8 plus 120, which is 472 square feet.
Should drywall be hung horizontally or vertically?
Horizontally in most residential work. It puts the long joint at about four feet, which is comfortable working height and easier to finish flat.
The drywall calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.