How much paint do I need!!!
We all know that paint is one of the most inexpensive ways to really change the look of a room. Knowing how much paint to buy is important. Buy too much, and you've spent money you didn't need to spend. Buy too little and you have to make a frantic run to the store for more paint.
How to calculate wall area
1. Find the perimeter of the room by adding wall lengths. Example: room is 10x12.
10 + 10 + 12 + 12 = 44 ft.
2. Multiply the perimeter by the wall height. A somewhat typical wall height is 8 feet, but measure to be certain.Example: room is standard and has 8 foot ceilings.
44 x 8 = 352 sq. feet
3. Subtract area of doors and windows. If they're an odd size, you can figure the area by multiplying the height x width.
Standard doors you can figure on being 20 sq. ft. and standard windows you can figure on being 15 sq. ft.Example: room has 2 doors and 1 window. 20 x 2 = 40 + 15 = 55 sq. ft.
Subract from the wall area- 352 - 55 = 297 sq. ft.
So, how much paint do I need?
Most paint manufacturers claim one gallon of paint will cover 400 square feet, but I generally figure on about 300 square feet to one gallon of paint. If you're not changing colors radically from dark to light or from light to dark and are using a good quality paint, you can probably get by with one coat of paint. If you are changing colors radically or are painting your room red plan on a *minimum* of two coats, possibly more. So, with our example room we'd need to buy one can of paint if we're not changing the color radically, or at least 2 if we were changing the color quite a bit.
Just remember: if you're in doubt, round up, not down!
How to calculate wall area
1. Find the perimeter of the room by adding wall lengths. Example: room is 10x12.
10 + 10 + 12 + 12 = 44 ft.
2. Multiply the perimeter by the wall height. A somewhat typical wall height is 8 feet, but measure to be certain.Example: room is standard and has 8 foot ceilings.
44 x 8 = 352 sq. feet
3. Subtract area of doors and windows. If they're an odd size, you can figure the area by multiplying the height x width.
Standard doors you can figure on being 20 sq. ft. and standard windows you can figure on being 15 sq. ft.Example: room has 2 doors and 1 window. 20 x 2 = 40 + 15 = 55 sq. ft.
Subract from the wall area- 352 - 55 = 297 sq. ft.
So, how much paint do I need?
Most paint manufacturers claim one gallon of paint will cover 400 square feet, but I generally figure on about 300 square feet to one gallon of paint. If you're not changing colors radically from dark to light or from light to dark and are using a good quality paint, you can probably get by with one coat of paint. If you are changing colors radically or are painting your room red plan on a *minimum* of two coats, possibly more. So, with our example room we'd need to buy one can of paint if we're not changing the color radically, or at least 2 if we were changing the color quite a bit.
Just remember: if you're in doubt, round up, not down!
