How does drywall cost

Drywall installation is generally priced by the square foot, although some contractors may offer a per-room or per-job rate. Still, some handymen might work under hourly rates to install drywall in your home. This material is the basis of all the walls and ceilings in your home. You will pay a premium price for materials if you need moisture-resistant drywall for bathrooms or fire-resistant drywall in places like California where wildfires may be a threat.

Drywall sheets also come in several different sizes and thicknesses. Sheets are available up to 16 feet long, but they are much more difficult to work with, so they will not usually be suited for a DIY drywall job. The thickness of drywall sheets also has to be considered. Drywall installation : 1, square feet of drywall, labor costs, and other potential charges. Check out our guide if you need a loan for your home improvement project.

Local costs have been calculated by accounting for labor and material cost differences across different cities. To get accurate cost estimates, indicate yours:. Get free estimates. Next, you can calculate how many drywall sheets will be needed. To do this you will need to divide the total square footage of the area by 32 if you are using four-foot by eight-foot sheets and by 48 if you are using four-foot by foot sheets.

This division will give you the number of full sheets that will be required to get your project done. Using the number of drywall sheets you will need, multiply that by the perimeter of each sheet to determine the linear feet of joint tape needed. A 4x8 sheet is 16 feet, while a 4x12 sheet is 20 feet.

Most rolls of tape contain feet of tape. So take the number of sheets you are buying, multiply by the perimeter of the drywall and divide by The general rule for drywall mud is to estimate 0. So you would multiply 0. For corner bends you would need to count the number of outside wall corners. Plan on using a full board of corner bend for each corner. Once you have a total for all the materials needed, you should have a basic estimate for your home project.

When hanging drywall you will need several tools. Most of these can be purchased at your local home improvement store and shouldn't break the bank. They include:. Installing drywall is not hard, but to make it easier and a faster job it is important you know the following six steps. Start in a corner and measure out. Make sure your pieces end in the center of a joist.

Mark your drywall piece, using a utility knife score the paper. Stand the piece up and snap the waste part away. Have an assistant hold the drywall piece up while you attach the board using screws. Make sure you use at least five screws on each side and screws are placed a half-inch from the edge.

Your screws should be lined around the edges and the width and length of drywall. Use a rotary tool to cut out for light fixtures making sure you measure where the hole should be. Starting at where the ceiling and corner meet, use a tape measure to ensure the piece will end on a stud and if not make sure you cut the drywall pieces down. Hold the piece against the ceiling panel and wall and attach it with screws.

Hang pieces along the top of the wall over windows and doorways. Install the next row of drywall like you did in Step 4, making sure to butt the edges tightly. Make sure you cut out switch and outlet boxes with the same procedure as you did in Step 3. With a cutout, tool trim any ends and edges into the window and doorway flush with the opening. On inside corners simply butt the end of the drywall against the other one. For outside corners, you will need to overlap one piece and top with a metal corner bead.

Repeat steps as needed until you have the room or rooms in your house that you needed completing. When the process is done correctly the wall surface will be perfectly smooth and the joints will be invisible. Taping and mudding can be a very frustrating and tedious job so it is important you understand the process well.

Follow the seven steps below. Make sure all your screw holes are driven down below the paper surface. If you have some that are not fully recessed make sure you drive them in a little more. If you have any spots with torn paper or drywall cut them off with a utility knife.

Scoop some mud into a compound tray and with a 6-inch taping knife apply a smooth thin layer over the drywall joint. Immediately press the drywall tape into the mud centered over the joint.

Hold the tape in place with one hand while pulling the taping knife over the tape. Working from the middle until the end of the joint. Apply just enough pressure to squeeze a little compound out from under the tape. Then apply another thin layer of compound to cover the tape and fill the joint. You should still be able to see the tape clearly through the mud at this point. Following the process you used with the tape finish the inside corners where walls meet. Make sure you apply the tape folded or use a corner bend.

Apply a thin layer of compound over the tape or bend as you did with the tape process. For the outside corners with the metal beads just apply a thick layer of compound.

Then apply a small amount of compound over each screw head and smooth the surface. That includes not only the cost of the drywall but also the fasteners, glue, and other miscellaneous supplies. This may or may not include the cost of finishing materials.

The difference in a company's quoted price is generally more dependant on it's labor costs than material costs. There is a large range in labor costs from one company to another based on it's structure and ability. Labor prices also vary from state to state and city to city.

Prices for labor only of both hanging and taping drywall can range from 45 cents per square foot to cents per square foot. You should expect to pay more in labor for rooms with high ceilings, tricky angles, or decorative soffits. Don't expect to get these square footage rates for a one room job or small remodel. Most Contractors will not provide a quote based on their standard footage rates unless the job is more than seventy-five sheets.

The example above of a 15' x 15' room, requiring only 16 or 17 sheets of drywall, would not receive the square footage quote unless it is part of a house with three or four rooms this size. In this context, small jobs refer to one room residential renovations such as patches or repairs, or kitchen or bathroom remodel projects. Most contractors will still break down their internal calculations of a project's cost between labor and materials.

They will first determine the amount of material needed for the job and use this to figure their material costs, much like what is described above. However, when estimating labor costs, rather than simply multiplying a square footage rate with the amount of material needed, they will estimate how many days or man hours it will take to finish the project. This is, of course, a very objective decision that more or less comes down to a guess made by the contractor based on his previous experience.

Less skilled helpers will not make the same wage but they will expect at least ten to fifteen dollars per hour depending on wages in the local area. Because of these expectations, a small remodel job will quote at a much higher square footage rate than an entire house. For example, the work cited above requires only 16 to 17 sheets of drywall. However, it would take at least three days of labor to hang, tape and texture this one room project.

In all cases it is good practice to do research on companies and get more than one quote. If you are not familiar with going rates in the local area, a minimum of three quotes will give you a good idea of what is fair.