It may have 9-, 10- and 14-foot lengths, 54-inch widths for 9-foot. ceilings and odd things like flexible drywall for curved surfaces. Drywall lengths don’t radically affect overall material cost.

I’ve always cut my pieces 1/4 or 3/8-inch less than the actual length. The drywall tape and mud will fill the small cracks you’ll get at each end of a vertical piece.

Next, I used a 4-inch drywall knife to press the tape into the compound. I followed that with a 6-inch knife to cover the tape with a layer of joint compound and let that fully dry.