How much joint tape a room takes
USG's Sheetrock joint tape data sheet gives 370 feet of tape for every 1,000 square feet of board — 0.37 feet of tape a square foot. The 12 by 10 foot room this page opens with is 439 square feet net, so it takes 162 feet of tape, or 179 feet with the 10% allowed for waste. That is one 250 foot roll.
The figure is per square foot of board rather than per foot of joint, which is what makes it usable before the sheets are laid out: how much joint there is depends on which sheet size you buy and which way you hang it, and the tape figure averages over that.
Rooms by size
| Room | Board | Tape | Buys as |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 × 10 ft | 387 ft² | 158 ft | 1 × 250 ft |
| 12 × 10 ft | 439 ft² | 179 ft | 1 × 250 ft |
| 12 × 12 ft | 495 ft² | 201 ft | 1 × 250 ft |
| 14 × 16 ft | 671 ft² | 273 ft | 1 × 500 ft |
| 20 × 24 ft | 1,151 ft² | 468 ft | 1 × 500 ft |
Walls and ceiling, 8 foot walls, one door and one window out of each, 10% for waste. Past about 250 feet a 500 foot roll costs less than two 250s at the prices this page starts with; type your store's beside each roll and the cheaper choice moves with them.
Paper, mesh and corners
This is the figure for paper tape, which is what the data sheet it comes from measures. Self-adhesive fibreglass mesh goes on faster but is usually paired with a setting-type compound, and it is sold in shorter rolls, so check the roll rather than reusing this number.
Inside corners are taped with the same paper, creased down the middle, and they are in the 0.37 figure. Outside corners are not taped at all: they take a metal or vinyl corner bead, which is counted on its own page because the geometry cannot tell how many outside corners a room has.
Why the figure is per square foot
A 12 by 10 room boarded in 4 by 8 sheets has more running joint than the same room boarded in 4 by 12s — fewer, longer sheets means fewer butt joints. A figure per square foot of board is an average across that, which is honest about what it is: an estimate good enough to buy a roll by. The sheets on this site are laid out in rows, but the tape is not counted off that layout joint by joint: the layout does not stagger the butt joints, and the data sheet's figure already has the hanger's real joints in it.
Prices are our own estimates, not a store's. We are not connected with any brand or store named here.