How Many Studs in a 16 Foot Wall?
Studs to buy
19 studs
16 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 length16 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 buy19 studs
| Wall area | 128 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Field studs | 13at 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 | 17 |
| Rule of thumb check | 16one stud per foot of wall |
| Plate stock | 48 ft3 at 16 ft, bottom plate and double top |
| Header stock | 0 fttwo plies, opening plus 6 in of bearing |
| Sheathing | 4 sheets4 by 8, gross wall, no openings taken off |
The material list this produces
| Studs at 8 ft | 19 |
|---|---|
| Plate stock, 16 ft lengths | 3 |
| Sheathing, 4x8 sheets | 4 |
| 16d framing nails, lb | 4 |
Wall length compared
The lengths that divide evenly by 8 ft, so every row buys plate stock and sheathing with nothing left on the floor. The last column is the one stud per foot rule, and you can watch it go from badly low at the top to slightly high at the bottom.
| Wall length | Studs to buy | Plate stock | Rule of thumb check |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 ft | 13 studs | 24 ft | 8 |
| 16 ft | 19 studs | 48 ft | 16 |
| 24 ft | 26 studs | 72 ft | 24 |
| 32 ft | 32 studs | 96 ft | 32 |
| 40 ft | 39 studs | 120 ft | 40 |
| 48 ft | 46 studs | 144 ft | 48 |
What else matters here
Nineteen studs and 48 ft of plate stock. This is the tidiest length on the list, because 48 ft is exactly three 16 ft boards and a 16 ft wall is exactly four sheets of sheathing, so nothing is cut and nothing is left over.
That is not a small thing when you are buying. Lumber yards stock plate material in even lengths, and a wall length that is a multiple of 8 ft lets you buy whole boards for the plates and whole sheets for the sheathing. The table is the run of those lengths, and every row in it is clean the same way.
There is one thing to watch that the count does not show. A 16 ft board is heavy, awkward on a ladder, and easy to bow while you nail it. Plenty of people plate a 16 ft wall with two 8 ft boards instead, which is the same material and easier to handle, as long as the joint in the top plate is offset from the joint in the plate below it and lands over a stud rather than in mid air.
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 16 foot wall?
19 at 16 in on center, including a ten percent waste allowance, with 48 ft of plate stock and 4 sheets of sheathing.
Why is a 16 foot wall the easiest length to buy for?
Because 16 divides evenly by both the 8 ft board and the 4 ft sheet, so the plates and the sheathing both come out of whole stock with nothing cut off.
Can I use two short boards instead of one long plate?
Yes, and many people do because a 16 ft board is awkward. The joint in the upper top plate has to be offset from the one below it and has to land over a stud.
The framing calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.