Easy Paint Calc

How many sheets of drywall for a 10×12 room?

Short answer

A 10 × 12 ft room with 8 ft walls needs 16 sheets of 4 × 8 drywall for the walls and ceiling: 452 square feet after one door, plus 10% waste.

How to work it out

  1. Walls: 2 × (12 ft + 10 ft) × 8 ft = 352 sq ft − openings 20 sq ft = 332 sq ft
  2. Ceiling: 12 ft × 10 ft = 120 sq ft
  3. 452 sq ft × 1.1 waste ÷ 32 sq ft per 4×8 sheet = 15.54 → 16 sheets

Ten by twelve is the standard spare bedroom, and the common size for a basement bedroom or a home office being framed out. Its 44 ft of wall and 120 sq ft ceiling come to 452 sq ft of board after the door.

Adjust for your project

ft
ft
ft
Only big ones such as picture windows; ordinary windows are usually cut out of full sheets
4 × 12 sheets mean fewer joints on long walls and ceilings, but they are heavy: about 60–77 lb for 1/2 in
More options: Door · Window · Other …
sq ft
sq ft
sq ft
A 16 × 7 ft garage door is 112 sq ft; a 6 ft patio door about 40
%
For cut-offs and mistakes. 10–15% is a common planning range
Sheets to buy16 sheets4×8
Drywall area
452 sq ft
Walls alone (if bought separately)
12 sheets
Ceiling alone (if bought separately)
5 sheets
You’ll also need (USG estimate)
about 4.5 gal of joint compound, 167 ft of paper tape and 1.2 lb of 1-1/4 in drywall screws
  • Sheets are counted by area plus the waste allowance. Plan the layout too: hang ceilings first, run sheets across the joists or studs, and stagger the end joints.
  • Walls (12) and ceiling (5) rounded up separately add to 17, one more than the room as a whole: offcuts from one part fill gaps in the other, so the whole-room count is enough if you buy and cut them together.
Check your codeBuilding codes set the type and thickness of drywall in some places. Under the International Residential Code (R302.6), the garage side of a wall between an attached garage and the house needs gypsum board at least 1/2 in thick, and 5/8 in Type X is required on the garage ceiling when there are habitable rooms above it. Local codes amend this; check with your building department before you buy.

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Drywall panel liftHolding sheets overhead while you drive screws is the hardest part of the job. A rented or bought panel lift does it for you.
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Sheets by sheet size (same room)

Sheets by sheet size (same room)
SheetSheets to buy
4×816 sheets
4×1013 sheets
4×1211 sheets
54 in × 1210 sheets

What to know about drywalling a 10×12 room

  • 16 sheets of 4 × 8 (15.5 rounded up with 10% waste). Walls alone are 12; the ceiling alone 5, because 120 sq ft plus waste is just over four sheets.
  • 11 sheets of 4 × 12. The 12 ft walls take two sheets each with no cut; the 10 ft walls take two sheets each with 2 ft cut off, which often covers the strip over the door.
  • Basement rooms. Choose moisture- and mold-resistant board where moisture is a risk, as USG’s catalog advises, and keep the bottom edge just off the slab: gypsum wicks moisture up, which is why USG’s handling guide stores board on risers. Set Where is the room? to basement for the reminder.
  • Closet. A 2 × 6 ft reach-in closet adds about 3 sheets.

The ceiling goes up first. In a 10 ft wide room, 4 × 10 sheets run straight across the joists wall to wall with no butt joints in the field, which makes the ceiling much easier to tape; 4 × 10 sheets bring the whole room to 13.

One size up is how many sheets of drywall for a 12x12 room. Finishing it: how much mud per sheet of drywall and how much drywall tape per sheet.

Different size? Use the full Drywall Calculator (Sheets for a Room).

What you’ll need

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Frequently asked questions

How many 4x12 sheets of drywall for a 10x12 room?

11 sheets of 4 × 12 for walls and ceiling, with 10% waste.

How many sheets of drywall for a 10x12 room without the ceiling?

12 sheets of 4 × 8 for the walls.

How many 4x10 sheets of drywall for a 10x12 room?

13 sheets of 4 × 10 for walls and ceiling.

Other common sizes

Sources