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Drywall Tape Calculator

The tape a room takes, and which roll covers it.

An estimate of quantity — one maker's figure; mesh tape and corners differ.

20' · 240 in · 20 ft · 6.096 m

20' · 240 in · 20 ft · 6.096 m

9' · 108 in · 9 ft · 2.7432 m

1,087 ft²

Inch Calculator advises about 10%, which is where this starts. Laid out sheet by sheet, a small room with a ceiling comes nearer 13%; a large room wastes far less. It is added once, to every product on the list.

This page recalculates as you type. There is no Calculate button.

Answer

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Joint tape

442.41 ft

1,087 ft² to board · 31 sheets · 31 × 4 × 10 ft

Buy 31 × 4 × 10 ft sheets
Area to board, net 1,087 ft²
Ticked items cost $693.26
More numbers
With the 10% for cuts 1,195.7 ft²
Screws 1045 screws
Joint compound 10.76 gal
Weight to carry 2,728 lb
DrawingThe project drawn to scale. Garage: 20' × 20'.20'20'Garage

Buying noteGarage is 9 ft tall. Two courses of the 54 in width cover a 9 ft wall exactly, where 4 ft board needs a third course or a ripped strip down the middle. Only USG makes it, and pro yards stock it.
Buying noteScrews are counted sheet by sheet, so a screw on a shared edge is counted twice. The real number is a little lower — the safe side for a shopping list.

Breakdown

Part Measurements Qty Area Share
Garage 20' × 20' × 9', 1 door, 1 window Add ×1 1,087 ft²

What to buy

Buying noteGarage is 9 ft tall. Two courses of the 54 in width cover a 9 ft wall exactly, where 4 ft board needs a third course or a ripped strip down the middle. Only USG makes it, and pro yards stock it.
Buying noteScrews are counted sheet by sheet, so a screw on a shared edge is counted twice. The real number is a little lower — the safe side for a shopping list.

Shopping list

31 31 × 4 × 10 ft (28 to hang + 3 spare) $588.38 Reference price $24.48. Type your store's. Reference price $21.98. Type your store's. Reference price $18.98. Type your store's. Reference price $17.48. Type your store's. Reference price $15.98. Type your store's.
2 1 × 5 lb box + 1 × 1 lb box $35.96 Reference price $26.98. Type your store's. Reference price $8.98. Type your store's.
3 1 × 4.5 gal + 2 × 3.5 gal $55.94 Reference price $19.98. Type your store's. Reference price $17.98. Type your store's. Reference price $14.98. Type your store's.
1 1 × 500 ft roll $12.98 Reference price $12.98. Type your store's. Reference price $7.98. Type your store's.
Ticked items $693.26

Untick what you already have. Each row has its price beside it — type what your store charges.

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Cutting list

Every sheet size, hung on your walls and ceiling the way the form asks - in rows across the studs, or upright along them - with the offcut of one row starting the next; each size's cost is the sheets it hangs, before the spares the waste adds in the list above. Doors and windows are hung over and cut out after, so they save no sheet. The 54 in width is offered and never picked for you: it is a pro-yard item, and two rows of it cover a 9 ft wall.

26 × 4 × 10 ft 0" thrown away
13 × 10'
13 × 10'
Sheet layoutEach bar is one sheet, drawn to scale along its length, with the rows cut from it and the end left over.x1310'x1310'

Standards

We hold the criteria and the clause, not the wording of the standard.

Meets IRC 2021 · R702.3.5

Screws at 16 in on walls framed 16 in, which is what the table allows.

Meets IRC 2021 · R702.3.5

At 16 in framing the table lists ceiling board either way, along the joists or across them.

Not checked IRC 2021 · R702.3.5

If this is a garage ceiling with a habitable room over it, the table asks for 5/8 in Type X run across the framing with fasteners at 6 in — half the usual spacing. Whether the room above is a habitable one is not something a measurement can tell us.

How this was worked out

Every number below is yours. Each constant links to the row where you can change it.

Garage 2 × (20' + 20') × 9' − 21 ft² − 12 ft² + 20' × 20' 1,087 ft²

Change:One door openingOne window opening

With the waste for cuts 1,087 ft² × (1 + 10%) 1,195.7 ft²
Sheets to buy 26 × 4 × 10 ft hung in rows with nothing left over, 28 sheets with the strip rows ripped from whole ones × (1 + 10%) 31 × 4 × 10 ft
Screws (walls 687 ft² × 32 a sheet ÷ 40 ft² + ceiling 400 ft² × 40 a sheet ÷ 40 ft²) × (1 + 10%) 1045 screws → 1 × 5 lb box + 1 × 1 lb box

Change:Screw spacing, wall at 16 in o.c.Screw spacing, ceiling

Joint compound 1,087 ft² × 0.009 gal/ft² × (1 + 10%) 10.76 gal → 1 × 4.5 gal + 2 × 3.5 gal

Change:Compound per unit area

Joint tape 1,087 ft² × 0.37 ft/ft² × (1 + 10%) 442.41 ft → 1 × 500 ft roll

Change:Tape per unit area

Weight of the sheets 31 × 40 ft² × 2.2 lb/ft² 2,728 lb

Change:Board weight, 5/8 in Type X

What it comes to 31 × $18.98 + 1 × $26.98 + 1 × $8.98 + 1 × $19.98 + 2 × $17.98 + 1 × $12.98 $693.26

Assumptions

Every one of these is editable. Change one and the answer changes with it.

Assumption Value Confidence
Board weight, 5/8 in Type XNominal weight of 5/8 in Type X board. USG Sheetrock Firecode X product page; Gold Bond Fire-Shield submittal 111098 (05/23). lb/ft² From a data sheet or an agency document
One door openingA 3 x 7 ft opening; Benjamin Moore takes 21 ft² for a door too. The paint cluster takes 20 ft², the finished leaf, because paint stops at the casing and board is cut to the opening. Neither 20 nor 21 is a measured rough opening: both are conventions, and the box is there for anyone who has measured theirs. ≈ ft² Trade convention
One window openingA 3 x 4 ft window. Benjamin Moore takes 12 ft² as well, Sherwin-Williams 15. Inch Calculator's drywall page has no opening box at all. ≈ ft² Trade convention
Screw spacing, wall at 16 in o.c.IRC Table R702.3.5, wall, framing 16 in o.c., application without adhesive: screws not more than 16 in apart. Same figure in the IRC 2021 and IRC 2024 text. in From a data sheet or an agency document
Screw spacing, ceilingIRC Table R702.3.5, ceiling, without adhesive: screws not more than 12 in apart, at 16 and at 24 in framing alike. Same figure in the IRC 2021 and IRC 2024 text. in From a data sheet or an agency document
Screws in a pound, 1-5/8 inGrip-Rite coarse thread drywall screw table, #6 x 1-5/8 in, the length for 5/8 in board: 200 per pound. Retail listings print lower counts (189 per pound in a 5 lb box of 945). screws/lb From a data sheet or an agency document
Compound per unit areaUSG's FAQ gives two 4.5 gal pails of UltraLightweight All Purpose compound per 1,000 ft² of board, which is 9 gal per 1,000 ft². It is one maker's rule of thumb for one product in a FAQ rather than a coverage off a data sheet, and a setting-type compound mixed from powder will differ. Inch Calculator works in lb/ft² and publishes no figure, so there is nothing of theirs to compare. ~ gal/ft² Derived or single-supplier
Tape per unit areaUSG Sheetrock Heavy joint tape data sheet: 370 ft per 1,000 ft² of board, which is 0.37 ft of tape per square foot. ft/ft² From a data sheet or an agency document

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 ft387 ft²158 ft1 × 250 ft
12 × 10 ft439 ft²179 ft1 × 250 ft
12 × 12 ft495 ft²201 ft1 × 250 ft
14 × 16 ft671 ft²273 ft1 × 500 ft
20 × 24 ft1,151 ft²468 ft1 × 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.