How Much Paint Do I Need?

Purchasing paint can put you in quite a big dilemma, and this is because you will never know exactly how much you will need and this all depends on what size room you’re planning to paint. This is because the bigger the room you have, the more paint you will need, not only this but each pot of paint may differ on how much paint is actually inside them. This can add even more problems for you coming to a conclusion about how much paint you may need.

Best of Machinery has put together a guide to help you understand how much paint you will need for each size room you want to paint.

Room Sizes

This is one of the most significant factors that you will need to consider, because each of your rooms may be a completely different size. So the first step you will need to do is measure how big the rooms are. Most rooms are usually measured in square foot, as this is the easiest way to measure what size they are. Do you want to paint the ceiling? You’ll need extra paint!

To calculate the size of your room you will need a tape measure, and once you have this you will then need to measure the length and the width of the room, and you will need to measure this in feet. Once you have got both of these measurements, you will then need to multiply the length by the width, and this will give you the answer to how big your room is in square feet.

An example of this would be if the length of your room is 14 feet long and 14 feet wide then you will need to times 14 by 14, and it would mean that the square foot of your room is 196.

Are you looking to paint the exterior, or are you just looking to paint your interior?

Different Types of Paint

One thing that you will have to keep your eyes peeled for is whether or not the tins of paint come in different measurements; for instance, you should see if a pot of paint comes in a gallon or even half a gallon before you purchase it. This is because different types and brands of paint may vary with how much paint they actually put in the tin.

You can normally find out how much is in the tin by just reading the side of it, once you’ve found this out you will then have to figure out how many tins you need and you may even have to convert the measurement into gallons, as it may be in milliliters.

Different paints are essential to getting it right. The right paint for kitchen cabinets will not work when looking to paint your garage floors.

The Rules to Follow

There are certain rules that you should actually follow that will be able to guide you pretty well about how much paint you will need. So roughly one gallon of paint, which is equivalent to most usual tins of paint, will be able to cover up to 400 square feet. This will approximately be able to cover the walls of a small room or a bathroom, depending on how big your bathroom is of course. See also; Paints for Bathroom Ceilings.

Therefore if you have purchased two gallons of paint, which is roughly two pots of paint, it will be able to cover about 800 square feet or something similar. This is one of the most popular amounts that will be needed. Another thing that you should note is that if your room is going to need a second coat of paint, then you will more than likely need to purchase two gallons of paint.

If your room is larger than this, then it’s recommended that you purchase three gallons of paint and this should be able to cover up to 1200 square feet. This will be enough paint to cover a large room, like your living room or dining room, plus it will also be enough paint to be able to cover two average sized rooms that adjoin together.

If you think that you’re going to need more paint than this, then it may be worth getting four gallons of paint, which is roughly four tins, as this will be enough paint for anything up to 1600 square feet. This amount of paint will be enough to cover quite a few average sized rooms or even a very large room.

If you’re still unsure…

If you still not 100% sure about how much paint you will need there are actually paint calculators that you can use online, and they will be able to tell you how much paint you will need without you having to work it out. Or another option you could always try is to go to your local DIY store and ask for their advice.

Conclusion

Painting different rooms in your house can be very exciting, and it will definitely give your home a fresh new look and make it feel modern again. It can be quite confusing when you have to decide how much paint you actually need to purchase because each tin will vary about how much paint it actually has in it. Not only this, but you will also need to find out the size of your room because this will indicate how much paint you will need.

This is because once you work out the length and the width of your room you can then work out the square feet of the room, and from this information, you will be able to roughly estimate how many gallons of paint you will need to be able to paint your room.