Stud Wall Calculator

This stud wall calculator works out all the materials you need for a non-loadbearing partition wall, from studs and noggings to plasterboard sheets, screws and scrim tape. Because the quantities are driven by your wall size and stud spacing, the counts apply to a timber CLS frame and to a light-gauge metal stud partitionalike — only the stud material and profile differ (read the head plate as ceiling track and the sole plate as floor track for a metal frame).

Stud calculation

Studs = (Wall Length / Stud Spacing) + 1, adjusted for door openings. Each door opening adds 4 extra studs (2 king studs + 2 jack studs) but removes the studs that would fall within the opening width.

Noggings

One continuous row at mid-height covers a standard wall up to about 2700mm (keeping noggings within the ~1350mm maximum centres used in UK practice); a further row is added for each additional ~1350mm of height. Noggings per row equals the number of bays between studs, adjusted for door openings where noggings are not needed.

Plasterboard

Sheets = (Net Wall Area × Number of Sides) / Sheet Area. Standard UK plasterboard sheets are 2400 × 1200mm (2.88 m²). Door openings are deducted from the wall area before calculating sheets.

Fixings and tape

• Screws: derived from stud spacing at British Gypsum’s max 300mm field centres (about 36 per sheet at 400mm centres, 27 at 600mm); editable in advanced options
• Scrim tape: Based on total joint length; a 90m roll covers ~90 linear metres of joint

Metal studs vs timber studs

The same quantities work for a metal stud partition. Light-gauge steel C-studs slot into U-shaped floor and ceiling track and are coded as [depth] S [gauge] — for example 48 S 50, 70 S 50 or 92 S 50, where the first number is the stud depth in mm and the trailing number is the steel gauge in hundredths of a millimetre (S 50 = 0.50mm steel), not the flange size. Metal studs are usually set at 600mm centresfor 12.5mm or 15mm board (reduce to 400mm or 300mm for taller, stiffer or wet-area walls), so choose the spacing above to match. Metal frames do not normally need cut-in noggings — add bracing or fixing channel only where heavy items will be hung — so treat the nogging figure as a maximum for steel partitions.

Standards

Structural timber is designed to BS EN 1995-1-1 (Eurocode 5), which superseded the withdrawn BS 5268-2; non-loadbearing timber partitions follow good practice in the NHBC Standards (Chapter 6.3). Metal framing components for gypsum board systems are made to BS EN 14195:2014. Plasterboard dry lining and partitioning workmanship is covered by BS 8000-8:2023 (which replaced the withdrawn BS 8212), with boards to BS EN 520. Fire resistance may require additional measures per Approved Document B.