Painting and drywall guides
Plain-language guides and lookup charts for painting and drywall, with the numbers worked out and links to the calculators you’ll need.
- How to paint a room: quantities, order of work and drying timesPaint a room in the right order: measure and buy, prep and patch, prime, cut in and roll the ceiling, walls and trim, with the quantities for a 12×12 room.
- Lead paint safety when painting an older homePainting a house built before 1978? What EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule covers, and its advice for do-it-yourselfers on testing and cleanup.
- How to hang and finish drywall: materials and order of workHang and finish drywall in a room: sheets, screws, tape, mud and primer from USG’s figures, then hanging, taping, three coats, sanding and priming.
- Paint coverage chart: how much a gallon covers, and gallons per roomHow much a quart, gallon or 5-gallon pail covers, coverage by brand from the data sheets, and gallons of paint for rooms from 10×10 to 20×20.
- Paint sheen chart: flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss and glossPaint sheens in order from flat to gloss, with gloss readings from Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore and Behr data sheets, and the sheen for each room.
- Drywall sizes chart: sheet sizes and thicknessesStandard drywall sheet sizes (4×8 to 4×16, 54 in wide), square feet per sheet, and the 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 and 5/8 in thicknesses and what each is for.
- Drywall weight chart: how much a sheet weighsWhat a sheet of drywall weighs: 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, lightweight, Type C and 5/8 Type X board, 4×8 to 4×16 sheets and bundles, from USG and National Gypsum.
- How much mud, tape and screws per sheet of drywallJoint compound, tape and screws per 4×8 or 4×12 sheet of drywall and per 1,000 sq ft, from USG’s estimating table, plus pails per job and what changes it.
- Door and window sizes for paint and drywall estimatesDoor and window sizes and areas to subtract when estimating paint, drywall and wallpaper: interior doors, garage doors and Pella’s common window sizes.
- Wallpaper roll sizes: single, double and European rollsHow big is a roll of wallpaper? US single and double rolls vs European rolls, square feet per roll, and how many full strips each gives on 7–10 ft walls.
- Painting a house exterior: how much paint, and in what orderHow much paint a house exterior takes by size and siding, why stucco and cedar take more, and the order of work from washing and scraping to the trim.
- Paint and drywall words, explainedPlain-English meanings of coverage, mils, sheen, primer, cutting in, nap, boxing, tapered edge, butt joint, Type X, joint compound and Level 5.