Hit exactly 100 drywall screws per sheet and it blew my mind

I was hanging drywall in my basement last weekend and decided to actually count the screws on a 4x8 sheet. Turns out the standard rule of 32 screws per sheet is way off for edges and field spacing. I ended up with 100 total on one sheet including the edges and that felt like the perfect number. The sheet is rock solid with no pops or movement. Anyone else actually count their screws or just go by feel?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugotaylor17d ago

Counted every single one on my last basement job and yeah 100 is the sweet spot for sure. I started doing it after I had a bunch of pops in my first room and now I don't half-ass it anymore. @rileyprice might think it's overkill but I'll take a solid sheet over saving a few seconds any day. Once you've had to fix a popped screw in a finished ceiling you learn real quick to just put the extra ones in from the start. My drill actually held up fine but my wrist was pretty sore the next morning...

rileyprice17d ago

32 seems about right for a basic install but 100 is way overkill unless you hate your drill.

the_alex15d ago

Wait, you actually counted the screws on a whole job? How did you even keep track without losing count halfway through? @rileyprice might not think the extra screws matter but Ive fixed too many people's mistakes to agree with that. Pops aren't just annoying, they mess up the texture and now you gotta patch and repaint. You can space them out on the field and still get a tight sheet without going full overkill. But 32 screws per sheet sounds like the bare minimum for code, not a real install thats supposed to last. I'd rather have solid boards than save a few seconds per screw.