What your result means
Plasterboard sheets is the number to buy: it includes your waste allowance and rounds up to whole boards. Sheets before waste is the bare arithmetic, shown so you can see what the allowance is actually costing you. Studs counts the closing stud at the far end, and track is the head and sole plate together. Screws, tape and compound are coverage estimates, not manufacturer figures.
Why this one is different
Framing is counted, not just cladding: studs and the head and sole plate lengths come back alongside the sheet total, so one calculation covers the whole partition. The net area is shown before waste as well as after, which is what lets you check the tool against a merchant quote line by line.
Fewer joints beats cheaper boards
Taping and filling is the slow, skilled part of drylining — hanging the board is the fast part. A 2700 mm board on a 2.4 m wall means no horizontal joint at all, and a horizontal joint is the one most likely to show under a low winter sun.
That is worth more than the small saving on a smaller sheet. The constraint is handling: a 3000 × 1200 mm board weighs around 30 kg and needs two people and a clear route into the room.
How it works
The net area is wall length × height, doubled if you are boarding both faces, with your openings deducted from each face. That area is divided by the area of one board and the waste allowance is added, then rounded up to whole sheets. Studs are counted from the spacing across the wall length plus the closing stud, and track is twice the length for the head and sole plate. Screws, tape and compound are estimated per square metre.
How to use this calculator
- Enter the wall length and height in metres. For a ceiling, use its length and width.
- Pick the board size you can actually get into the room — the largest that avoids a horizontal joint is usually best.
- Set the stud spacing. 600 mm centres suits 12.5 mm board on a domestic partition; 400 mm is used for tiled walls and where a wall takes heavy fixings.
- Enter the total area of openings — a standard internal doorway is about 1.6 m².
- Tick board both sides for a new partition. Leave it clear when lining an existing masonry wall.
Formula
Board area in m² = (width mm ÷ 1000) × (height mm ÷ 1000), so a 2400 × 1200 board is 2.88 m². Screws ≈ 10 per m² (300 mm centres), tape ≈ 1.6 m per m², jointing compound ≈ 0.9 kg per m² for a taped and filled finish.
Example calculation
A 4 m × 2.4 m partition boarded both sides with 2400 × 1200 mm board at 600 mm centres, one 1.6 m² doorway, 10% waste:
Less the doorway on both faces: 19.2 − 3.2 = 16 m²
Board area = 2.4 × 1.2 = 2.88 m² → 16 ÷ 2.88 = 5.6 sheets
With 10% waste = 7 sheets
Studs = ⌈4000 ÷ 600⌉ + 1 = 8 studs, track = 8 m
Screws ≈ 160, tape ≈ 25.6 m, compound ≈ 14.4 kg
Frequently asked questions
Should studs be at 400 or 600 mm centres?＋
600 mm centres is standard for 12.5 mm plasterboard on a domestic partition and is what board manufacturers specify. Drop to 400 mm where the wall will be tiled, where it carries heavy fixings such as a wall-hung basin or a TV bracket, or where you are using thinner 9.5 mm board.
Why does the doorway come off twice?＋
Because a partition boarded on both faces has two surfaces to cover, and the opening removes board from each of them. If you are lining one side of an existing wall, only one face exists and the deduction happens once — leave “board both sides” unticked and the calculation follows.
How much waste should I allow?＋
Ten percent covers a straightforward rectangular wall. Go to fifteen or twenty for a room with several openings, sloping ceilings, or a lot of cutting around services, because every cut leaves an offcut too small to use elsewhere.
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Assumptions & limitations
Every figure here comes from a simplified model. Keep these limits in mind when reading your result:
- Assumes a rectangular wall or ceiling. Break irregular shapes into rectangles and add the results.
- Board counts are by area, not by cutting plan. A real cutting plan on a wall with awkward openings can need one more board than the area suggests, which is part of what the waste allowance covers.
- Screw, tape and compound figures are typical coverage rates for a taped and filled finish. Skim-coated work, thicker boards and double-layer systems all use more.
- Excludes insulation, resilient bars, corner beads, adhesive for dot-and-dab, and the primer or mist coat before decorating.
- Fire, acoustic and moisture-resistant systems are specified as complete build-ups by the manufacturer — board type, layer count and stud centres together. Use their system tables rather than this estimate where performance is a requirement.