How Much Paint Should I Buy? – Pro House Painting Tips
When you’re buying paint for a house painting project, there are two problems you want to avoid. First, you want to make sure you buy enough. After all, if you run out of paint halfway through a project, it can be a huge pain to run out to the store for more. On the other hand, you don’t want to have tons of paint leftover when you’re done, since you can’t return mixed paint. So, how do you calculate what you need? How much paint should you buy for your painting project?
It’s Easy! Just square your feet!
For each wall you plan to paint, multiply the height and width to get the square feet. Add the total from each wall, and you have your square footage. Here is a simple example.
In a room that is 10 feet wide and 14 feet long, with 8 foot ceilings, here is how we will calculate it.
North wall and South walls: 10 x 8 = 80 square feet.
East and West walls: 14 x 8 = 112 square feet.
Putting the four walls together, we get 384 square feet.
Next, we need to subtract the sizes of doors and windows. An average door is about 20 square feet. A window 2 feet wide and three feet tall would be 6 square feet. So let’s say our sample room has a door and two windows of the size just mentioned. We need to take 32 feet off our total. That gives us 352 square feet.
How Much Can I Paint with One Gallon?
One gallon of interior house paint usually covers 400 square feet, though some manufacturers say 350 (check the label on the back of the can to make sure). It’s important to note that this is just for one coat of paint. So for our example room above, one gallon of paint would be enough for one coat. If I am changing the wall color, I’ll probably need to plan on two coats, and thus, two gallons.
Another important thing to note is that some surfaces are “thirstier” than others, meaning they will absorb more paint and your gallon will not go as far. You can help this by priming the wall first if it is new drywall, if there are repaired spots, or if you are painting bare wood.
One gallon is usually enough to put a coat of paint paint on small or medium-sized bedroom, an average dining room or kitchen, and most average bathrooms.
How Much Can I Paint with a Pint?
A pint of interior house paint can be expected to cover 75 to 100 square feet. This would be enough to paint 2 coats on each side of an interior door. It is also a good size to buy if you are painting baseboards or crown molding in a couple of rooms.
Another situation when a pint is handy is if you need more than a gallon, but less than a gallon and a half. For example, if a room is 450 square feet, two gallons would be way too much, but a gallon and a pint would be perfect. However, since two pints cost roughly the same as a gallon, once you need two pints, you might as well get a gallon.
Professional House Painting in the San Francisco Bay Area
For homeowners in the Bay Area who are not certain they want to tackle a house painting job themselves, MB Jessee is a great company to call. Our estimators are courteous and helpful, and we give you honest feedback with no high-pressure sales techniques. Our painters are skilled, efficient, respectful, and tidy. When you hire MB Jessee for your interior or exterior painting, you can be sure you will get superb results with lasting quality.
At MB Jessee, we offer drywall and plaster repair, kitchen cabinet painting, wallpaper removal, wood staining and refinishing, and decorative finishes. In other words, whatever look or effect you want in your home, we can do it! We have been serving the San Francisco Area for over 20 years.
