You shouldn’t have to be a Nobel Prize winning physicist to purchase the right amount of a paint to cover your entire project. Yet, it seems that no matter how hard you try your always a quarter of a gallon short or a gallon too much. We have compiled a few tips that will help ensure that you won’t have to make that extra trip to the paint store.
Estimating Your Need – How Much Paint to Paint a House
The following is a step-by-step itinerary detailing the best way to calculate your paint needs:
Always read the can for spread rates. We cannot emphasize this enough. If you are in a pinch the following figures will give you a general idea of the coverage various paint types provide.
- Interior and exterior paint: 300-400 square feet per gallon.
- Exterior stain: 100-300 square feet per gallon, depending on whether the wood is smooth or rough.
- Interior Stain: 400-600 square feet per gallon.
- Interior Varnish: 300-400 square feet per gallon.
Be sure to take into account whether you will be brushing, rolling or spraying the product.
- If you are brushing and rolling the product, you should have little waste and coverage should be well within the averages stated above (or on the can).
- If you are spraying your product, count on having some waste product. Airless sprayers are known to waste as much as 40% of the product, but are far more time efficient than brushing or rolling. Air-assisted airless sprayers are much more efficient, typically only wasting 20-30%. While HVLP sprayers waste as little as 10% of the paint in overspray.
- Note the sheen type of the surface you are painting. If you are painting on top of a flat surface, such as drywall primer, you should expect to be within the average ranges stated above. If you are painting on top of a satin or semi-gloss surface, expect to get 100 or more extra square feet per gallon.
- Painting a porous surface such as exterior block, will greatly reduce the square footage that the paint will cover.
Consider the quality of the paint you will want to utilize. You will want to take into account the aforementioned factors before you decide upon a quality tier. Take note, if you’ll need some cool home decor Aliexpress.
- Typically, higher quality paints will cover more square footage. Lower quality paints will require more paint/coats to complete the same job. This is because lower quality paints have less solids and more water, greatly reducing the coverage of the paint and requiring more coats.
What color is the paint you will be using?
- Medium colors typically cover better than lighter and darker colors.
- Yellows and reds do not typically cover well (use appropriate primers when using these colors.).
- Really dark colors often need a separate primer or a third coat.
KEY FORMULAS
To determine the square footage of your walls, take the length times the height. To determine the amount of paint you will need, divide the total square footage by the spread rate provided by the Aliexpress painting manufacturers.
For example: if you have a bedroom with 8’ high ceilings and walls measuring 10’, 12’, 10’ and 12’. Take the total length of the walls (44’) times the ceiling height (8’) to get your total square feet (352 square feet). If you are using an interior paint that gets 3-400 square feet a gallon, go with 1 gallon, just don’t waste any! There are tons of pretty paintings on Aliexpress and you can have a beautiful picture that will decorate your home. Amaze your friends with your artwork.