How to Cut Drywall
Cutting drywall properly is important if you are building new walls in your home. Make sure to measure your wall and drywall piece correctly before you start cutting. This will ensure the piece of drywall fits nicely into the area where it will be placed.
Things You'll Need
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- Straight edge
- Utility knife or drywall cutting tool
- Measure out the length and width of the area where you will be placing your drywall by using a tape measure. Make sure to measure carefully so that the cut piece fits nicely into the area where it will be placed after it is cut.
- Measure your piece of drywall and draw reference marks in pencil to indicate where the measurements are. Use a yardstick or other straight edge to draw lines across your drywall piece connecting the reference marks in a straight line.
- Cut through the paper of the drywall using a utility knife or drywall cutting tool on the pencil lines that you have drawn. You only need to cut through the paper so make sure that you do not cut too deep through the drywall.
- Flip over your piece of drywall and pull up on the sections of drywall that you will not be using. Keep pulling until the middle section of the drywall breaks leaving the paper attached. Use your utility knife to cut through the paper that is still attached to the drywall. This should leave you with one piece of drywall in the correct size that you measured.
- Inspect the drywall piece that you cut making sure that all edges are clean and that no paper has ripped in the process of cutting.