Do you need to know how many sheets of drywall a truck can hold? Well, we have researched this question and have answers for you. It is essential for your safety to know how many drywall sheets a truck can hold before you attempt to move drywall on the road.
A truck can hold between 28 and 67 sheets of drywall. Many factors affect how many sheets of drywall you can carry, such as the size of your truck and the thickness and length of your drywall.
In this article, we will learn how many sheets of drywall a truck can hold. We will also learn about other interesting related questions like how far something can hang off the back of a truck and how much weight can a tailgate hold. Keep reading to learn more.
How Many Sheets Of Drywall Can A Truck Hold?
Many factors need to be considered to find how many drywall sheets a truck can hold. Depending on these factors, the number of drywall sheets you can carry will vary drastically. The first factor we will explore is truck size.
Truck Size
Different brands and models of trucks will have slightly different carry capacities but, there are a few estimates we can make about how much a truck can carry to help us find how many sheets of drywall a truck can hold.
Trucks come in various sizes, rated on how much they can carry. These sizes are half-ton, three-quarter-ton, and one-ton. When these truck sizes were first built, they were named to tell you their carry capacity.
A half-ton truck could carry half a ton. A three-quarter-ton truck could carry three-quarters of a ton, and a one-ton truck could carry one ton. This naming scheme no longer works quite this way since all trucks can now carry much more than they used to.
A half-ton truck can now hold close to 3,000 pounds. That is nearly three times what a half-ton truck used to be able to hold. The other truck sizes got a significant increase in carrying capacity as well. A three-quarter-ton truck can now carry 4,000 pounds, and a one-ton truck can carry 7,000 pounds.
Now that we know the carrying capacity of various size trucks let's learn how much a sheet of drywall weighs to find how many a truck can carry.
How Much Does A Sheet Of Drywall Weigh?
Drywall comes in different lengths and thicknesses. We will cover the most popular sizes and thicknesses to determine the weight of a sheet of drywall. We will first learn about sizes.
Sizes
Drywall comes in large sheets, and the two most popular sizes for these sheets are 4' by 8' and 4' by 12'. The 4x8 sheet of drywall has an area of 32 square feet. Alternatively, the 4x12 sheet of drywall has an area of 48 square feet.
Now that we know how many square feet each size of drywall has let's learn how much each thickness of drywall weighs per square foot.
Thickness
The two most popular thicknesses of drywall are 1/2 inch and 5/8 inch. While the exact weight per square foot will vary slightly between brands, a 1/2 inch sheet of drywall weighs approximately 1.6 pounds per square foot. A 5/8 inch sheet of drywall weighs about 2.2 pounds per square foot.
Weight Of One Sheet Of Drywall
With two thicknesses and sizes to take into account, there are four different weights that a sheet of drywall could be.
A 1/2 inch sheet of drywall with a size of 4' by 8' will weigh 51 pounds.
A 1/2 inch sheet of drywall with a size of 4' by 12' will weigh 77 pounds.
A 5/8 inch sheet of drywall with a size of 4' by 8' will weigh 70 pounds.
A 5/8 inch sheet of drywall with a size of 4' by 12' will weigh 106 pounds.
Now that we know how much a sheet of drywall weighs, it should be easy to calculate how many a truck can carry. Or at least it would be easy if we didn't need to take one more factor into account.
Hight Limit
Truck beds have a limit to how high their sides are. For most trucks, this is 21.4 inches. While your truck may be able to carry over 100 1/2 inch 4' by 8' sheets of drywall, it wouldn't be safe to drive with a colossal stack of drywall in the back.
While you can stack drywall above the top of the truck bed walls, it would be best if your stack of drywall didn't exceed one foot over the side walls. With the side walls at 21.4 inches high plus one foot, you can safely carry a stack of drywall no higher than 33.4 inches tall.
This height limit makes the maximum number of drywall sheets you can carry 67 1/2 inch sheets and 54 5/8 inch sheets. With this height limit in mind, we can now calculate how many sheets of drywall you can safely carry in your truck.
Number Of Drywall Sheets For Different Trucks
Now that we have discussed truck sizes, drywall weights, and height limits, we can finally make some definitive statements about how many sheets of drywall a truck can hold.
Half Ton Truck
A half-ton truck can carry 58 4'x8' 1/2 inch sheets of drywall, 38 4'x12' 1/2 inch sheets of drywall, 42 4'x8' 5/8 inch sheets of drywall, or 28 4'x12' 5/8 inch sheets of drywall.
Three Quarter Ton Truck
A three-quarter-ton truck can carry 67 4'x8' 1/2 inch sheets of drywall, 51 4'x12' 1/2 inch sheets of drywall, 54 4'x8' 5/8 inch sheets of drywall, or 37 4'x12' 5/8 inch sheets of drywall.
One Ton Truck
A one-ton truck, or any other larger truck, has a high enough carry capacity to carry up to the height limit for sheets of drywall. So, for a one-ton truck, you can carry 67 1/2 inch sheets of drywall and 54 5/8 inch sheets of drywall.
Now that we know how many drywall sheets a truck can carry let's learn how to transport drywall in a truck.
How Do You Transport Drywall In A Truck?
When transporting sheets of drywall in a truck, stack the drywall horizontally. If you stack drywall sheets vertically, they may shift or fall during transit.
It is also vital that you secure your load before you travel. You can best secure your load using ratchet straps. These straps allow you to ratchet them tightly to ensure there isn't a lot of movement while driving.
If your stack of drywall is higher than the walls of your truck bed, then you can put some straps horizontally across the load to secure it. To properly secure your load, use two or three straps.
If your stack of drywall is not as high as the walls of your truck bed, then you will need to secure the back of the stack of the drywall as well. Cross straps across the back of the stack of drywall and secure them on both sides of the truck.
You may also want to place something on top of the drywall sheets and strap that item to the drywall to ensure your load is secure.
How Far Can Something Hang Off The Back Of A Truck?
When you transport drywall sheets, the sheets will have to hang out the back of the truck. As long as most of the weight is on the vehicle and the load is fully secure, this shouldn't be a problem. However, there are legal limits to how far something can hang off the back of your truck.
The limit for how far something can hang off the back of your in the united states is four feet. You may be subject to a ticket if you have anything beyond four feet behind your vehicle.
If you are carrying 4x8 sheets of drywall, a standard truck bed will be able to carry them and be within the 4-foot limit. If you need to move 4x12 sheets of drywall, you won't be able to carry them in a standard truck bed safely. Some trucks have a long truck bed that is eight feet long and will be able to carry the 4x12 sheets of drywall without going over the four feet limit.
How Much Weight Can A Tailgate Hold?
Tailgates are designed to support quite a bit of weight. The exact amount of weight that a tailgate can hold will depend on the brand and model of your truck. Since the tailgate can partially support your carry load, it must be up to the task.
Most truck tailgates are designed to hold 500 pounds. Ford trucks are an exception to this. Ford designed their F150 tailgate to be able to support 600 pounds.
Not wanting to be outdone by Ford, Chevy has made their tailgates support 840 pounds. This is one of the highest weight capacities for a tailgate on the market.
Be sure never to exceed the weight limit on your tailgate. Doing so may break the supporting cables and potentially injure anyone attempting to load things into or out of the truck.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we learned you could carry between 28 and 67 sheets of drywall depending on the size of your truck and the size of your drywall sheets. We also learned that there is a four-foot limit to things hanging off the back of your truck.
We hope you enjoyed this article. If you want to learn more, check out some of these other posts.