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Handyman Articles - Calculating How Much Paint to Buy

Planning and Preparation The quality of any painting project is based on attention to detail. The paint surface must be prepared properly, use of quality paint is key, and applying paint with good tools is equally important. Pick colors (try Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer) and finishes that fit your lifestyle, i.e. "easy to wash" finishes for high traffic areas. Walls are usually flat (low traffic) or stain (high traffic) finish. Ceilings are usually flat and by using the same color throughout your house, you can save on paint. Trim is most often semi-gloss, or high gloss if you want a very hard/shiny surface. Patch holes, sand rough spots, and use a primer on new sheet rock. Use a stain block like Kilz as needed. Apply 2 coats when painting unfinished or heavily patched walls, or when covering dark colors. DO NOT use cheap paint (minimum of $20/gallon) or you will need to apply an extra coat of pain, which then costs more. Buy extra paint for small repairs by rounding up to the nearest gallon. (The cost of a gallon is usually about the same as 2+ quarts, so you may as well just purchase the gallon.)

•Calculating Square Footage for Painting Here's a worksheet to help determine how much paint to buy. The example is a 10 x 14 ft room with 2 doors, 2 windows and ceiling height of 8 ft (average). Most paint covers 350 sq ft per gallon but it's best to review the label. Sample WALL Calculation Sample Room Room #1 Room #2 Room #3 Add length of all walls = linear ft (LF) 48 lf       Multiply lf x ceiling height = square ft (sq ft) 384 sq ft       Subtract doors (20 sq ft/door) 344 sq ft       Subtract windows (15 sq ft/window) 314 sq ft       For 2 coats, multiply by 2 628 sq ft       Add 10% contingency 691 sq ft       Divide by 350 sq ft/gallon 2.0 gal       Sample CEILING Calculation  Sample Room Room #1 Room #2 Room #3 Multiply 2 longest walls for ceiling sq ft 168 sq ft       For 2 coats, multiply by 2 336 sq ft       Add 10% contingency 370 gal       Divide by 350 sq ft/gallon 1.1 gal       Sample TRIM Calculation  Sample Room Room #1 Room #2 Room #3 Baseboard (length of all walls) linear ft (LF) 48 lf       Add door trim  (20 lf/door for sides & top) 88 lf       Add window trim (average 15 lf/window) 118 lf       Multiply lf x 0.5 (6 in) to convert to sq ft 59 sq ft       Add 10% contingency 0.2 gal       •

Tina Gleisner, President of My Handyman of Southern NH, publishes Handyman News and writes articles that address customer problems. Copyright © 2007 iHandyman Solutions Inc.