Trade toolkit · Carpentry
Enter the length and height of the wall and any door or window openings. The calculator works out the studs, plates, noggins, trimmers and heads, the timber lengths to buy, plasterboard sheets, screws and insulation, and draws the wall for you.
The wall
Door and window openings
| Type | Width mm | Height mm | From left mm | Sill mm | Remove |
|---|
Boarding
Timber cutting list
| Part | Qty | Length mm |
|---|
How to use it
Studs are set out from one end at your centres, with one at each end of the wall. The head and sole plates run the full length. Noggins go in rows between the studs, roughly every 1.2 m of height, which also gives you fixing for the board edges on a 2.4 m sheet. Plasterboard is worked out by area with your waste allowance, and screws at about 32 per 2.88 m² sheet.
Questions
Usually 400 mm or 600 mm centres. Use 400 mm for 12.5 mm plasterboard, for walls that will carry kitchen units, shelving or tiles, and for anything that needs to feel solid. 600 mm is acceptable for 15 mm board on a plain partition.
38 × 63 mm or 38 × 89 mm CLS is common for internal partitions. Use 47 × 75 or 47 × 100 mm for taller walls, for walls carrying heavier loads, or when you need a deeper cavity for insulation or services.
Noggins stop the studs twisting, stiffen the wall and give a fixing for board edges and anything you hang later. Put a row at mid-height at least, and add rows where you will fix cabinets, rails or a TV bracket.
More trade tools
Materials
Square metres for floors, walls and ceilings, packs needed, and cubic metres and tonnes for concrete or screed.
Pricing
Sheets from a parts list, job pricing with markup and contingency, margin, VAT, CIS and retention.
Setting out
Check a room or frame is square from its diagonals, set out with 3-4-5 and solve any right-angled triangle.
Building in fitted furniture?
We build wardrobe and bedroom cabinets to your sizes in 1 to 2 weeks, flat-pack or assembled. Email info@dtjinteriors.co.uk, call 0115 784 8231 or WhatsApp 07956 032306.
DTJ Interiors Ltd
Unit 5 Atlas Mills, Birchwood Avenue
Long Eaton, NG10 3ND
Workshop and collection
Monday to Friday, 8am to 4:30pm
Delivery across the East Midlands for £99 + VAT, and further afield priced per job.
DTJ Interiors Limited · Company no. 15242186 · VAT GB460641310
Registered office: The Mills, Canal Street, Derby DE1 2RJ
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