How much drywall does a basement need?
The room
Openings
21 sq ft each
15 sq ft each
Stair openings, archways, a bricked-up fireplace. Measure them — a stairwell hole is 40 to 60 sq ft of wall you do not board.
Sheet size
Thickness
The default for walls on framing at 16 in centres.
Waste is 10%, 2 outside corners. Defaults are fine for most rooms.
Room plan
shape only, not to scale
You need
39sheets
4 × 8 ft · 1/2 in · 10% waste
wallboardcalc.com
Materials
$739
at your prices
- Walls
- 704 sq ft
- Ceiling
- 480 sq ft
- Openings
- −51 sq ft
- Net area to board
- 1,133 sq ft
- Sheets before waste
- 36 → 39
- Weight to carry
- 2,221 lb
What to put in the cart
Finishing follows the manufacturer coverage rates: 10 gal of mud and 370 ft of tape per 1,000 sq ft.
- 1$624
39 × 4 × 8 ft 1/2 in drywall sheets
- 2$36
4 × 1 lb box of 1-1/4 in drywall screws (about 1,097 screws)
- 3$14
2 × 250 ft roll of paper joint tape (420 ft needed)
- 4$57
3 × 4.5 gal pail of all-purpose joint compound (11.3 gal needed)
- 5$8
2 × 8 ft corner bead
The whole setup lives in the link — send it to whoever is helping.