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Plain-English explanations of the numbers our calculators produce. No hot takes, no upsells.

A staircase in a house with a rug at its foot
Featured Project · 3 min read

Stair Landing Requirements

Thirty six inches in the direction of travel, at the top and bottom, and a hard stop at 147 inches of rise for one…

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Gray concrete blocks stacked in rows
Surface 6 min read
How Many Bags of Mortar Per 100 Blocks? Eight bags of pre-blended, or three of masonry cement plus…
A roofer working on a roof with a power tool
Surface 7 min read
How Many Nails Per Shingle? Four, and six on the exceptions. The code sets four…
A pile of screws on a work surface
Surface 7 min read
How Many Screws Per Sheet of Drywall? Twenty eight on a wall, thirty five on a ceiling.…
A painter suspended on ropes coating a large white exterior wall
Surface 7 min read
How Many Coats of Primer Do You Need? One, in almost every case. The number that actually varies…
A worker standing on the roof of a house
Surface 7 min read
How Much Does a Bundle of Shingles Weigh? About 65 to 70 pounds for architectural, 63 for three…
Hands smoothing plaster onto a wall with trowels
Surface 5 min read
How Much Drywall Mud Do I Need? About 10 gallons or 140 pounds per 1,000 square feet…
Close up of a patterned tiled wall in orange and black
Surface 5 min read
How Much Thinset Do I Need? A 50 pound bag covers 90 to 100 square feet…
A tiler pressing grout into the joints of floor tiles
Surface 5 min read
How Much Grout Do I Need? A 25 pound bag covers 146 square feet of 3…
Close up of hexagonal asphalt shingles
Surface 5 min read
How Many Shingles Are in a Bundle? Twenty six for an old 12 by 36 shingle and…