sheetrocking...when doing an entire house, what percentage of waste should be expected?

Good Q.

After installing thousands of sq. ft. of drywall I can currently allow that 10% or less will be waste.

Certainly an old trades quote applies. "Measure Twice, Cut Once."

Assuming that most of us work within budget constraints, and don't always have an area that is strictly defined by the widths and lengths of drywall sizes, it's still valid to do some planning.

If your studs don't happen to be exactly 16 or 24 inches on center, add 2x4's to make it happen. Know precisely where outlets are, etc. design the area allowing for the least amount of taping and mudding, and certainly plan the install to allow that the least amount of joints butted, will be the factory made, depressed joints

As important is GET HELP when possible to avoid trying to raise a 4x8 by yourself, if you don't have the proper, preplanned braces to hold a sheet to a ceiling for example.

Drywall isn't prohibitively expensive, but waste is just that, often unusable stuff you have paid for but have to discard.

I could go one here, but I think I made my point. I'll give you one more example, and I've answered similar questions in the past.

Assume a house has 8 ft ceilings, which is becoming more rare. Assume further that the room sizes aren't always even in the sense that they exactly accept 4 x 8 sheets of drywall, IE: 10 x 15 room. In that instance you might go with 5 x 10 ft sheets? OR you might use 4 x8 but installed either horizontally.

As I said the planning not only will save time but dollars.

Steven Wolf

If you are new to sheetrocking, don't use a standard waste amount. If you are doing an entire house, figure the total square feet you will cover, then divide by 32. You will probably need more before you are done, but you will have a much better idea of what you will need without having extra around.

Of coarse if you have no way to pick up the extra, thats a different problem. Remember to NOT have four corners come together, Good luck

It depends on the house but typically about 8 to 10% waste is what I factor.

I have a friend that was in the business. I use to hear him say anywhere from 5% to 10%....

He was in the business for awhile and got really good at figuring out how much to purchase and how to use up small pieces for small places. He got his down to 5% or less for most of his jobs.

I would say that 5% to 10%. If a lot of thought has gone into the design, then not as much.