Drywall Guides

Which guide do you need?

Start with the stage of the job you are at. If you have not bought board yet, the thickness and types guides decide what goes on the order, and the calculators turn your rooms into sheets. If the board is already on the walls, skip to taping and finishing.

How these guides are researched and reviewed

Each guide starts from the documents the trade works from: the manufacturer's installation guide and product data, the Gypsum Association's GA-216 standard for applying and finishing gypsum board, and, for code questions, the text of the International Residential Code or the federal HUD code for manufactured homes. Where one of those documents sets a number, such as a screw spacing, a fastener length or a coverage rate, the guide uses that number and links the document under Primary references at the end of the page.

Advice that no document sets, such as the order of work or how to plan a layout, is written as practice rather than as a rule, and each guide links the calculator for the job, so the counting is left to the tool. Code guides name the edition and section they quote, and say plainly where your state, city or manufactured housing program may set different rules.

The guides are written and maintained by Inam Ur Rehman. He is not a licensed contractor, so the guides rely on cited documents rather than on personal authority; his page explains how each kind of rule is checked and keeps a changelog. If a guide disagrees with a document it cites or with your local code, tell us on the contact page, naming the guide and the section.