Enter your wall length and height and pick a stud spacing, and get the number of studs, the total plate length, and how many drywall sheets to cover one or both sides.
Vertical studs
13
Plate / track
32.0 ft
Wall area
128.0 sq ft
A stud wall is a frame of vertical studs between a head and sole plate, clad with plasterboard. The calculator counts each part from the wall size and your stud spacing:
studs = floor(wall length ÷ stud spacing) + 1
plate = 2 × wall length (head + sole)
sheets = ceil( wall area × sides × wastage ÷ sheet area )
The + 1 is the stud that closes off the final bay at the end of the wall. Boarding both sides doubles the sheet count.
This example follows the unit system you pick in the calculator above.
A 16 ft × 8 ft wall at 16 in centres, boarded both sides with 4 × 8 ft sheets, 10% wastage:
| Item | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|
| Noggins | One horizontal row ≈ another wall-length of timber |
| Door opening | A pair of studs each side + a header |
| Insulation | Wall area, if it is an acoustic or thermal partition |
| Screws | ~30 plasterboard screws per sheet |
Divide the wall length by the stud spacing and add one for the final end stud. A 4.8 m wall at 600 mm centres needs floor(4.8 ÷ 0.6) + 1 = 9 studs. A 16ft wall at 16-inch centres needs 13. That count is for the vertical studs; add timber for the head and sole plates and any noggins separately.
Studs are usually 400 mm (16 inches) or 600 mm (24 inches) apart on centre. Use 400 mm for walls that carry heavier boards, tiling or fixings, and 600 mm for standard partitions with 12.5 mm plasterboard. Closer spacing means a stiffer wall but more timber - pick the spacing above to match.
Divide the wall area by the area of one sheet, multiply by the number of sides you are boarding, and add wastage. A 4.8 m × 2.4 m wall boarded both sides with 2.4 × 1.2 m sheets and 10% wastage needs 9 sheets. Enter your wall and sheet size above for the exact figure.
Add 10% for a plain wall and 15% where there are doorways, windows or services that mean cutting around openings. The offcuts from around openings can often be reused elsewhere on the wall, but it is safer to round up than to run short of a single board.
It gives the total plate/track length - the head and sole plates - as twice the wall length. It does not count noggins (the short horizontal blocks between studs), which depend on whether you need fixing lines for boards, skirting or fixtures. A common allowance is one row of noggins per wall, so add the wall length once more for those.
Litres or gallons of paint for walls and ceilings, with coats and coverage built in.
Open calculator →How many tiles and boxes to buy for a floor or wall, with wastage built in.
Open calculator →Planks and boxes of laminate, vinyl or hardwood flooring, with layout wastage.
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