How many gallons of paint needed for 1000 square feet

How to Figure Out Paint Amounts for Walls, Ceilings, and More

Body

Looking to paint a room in your house but not sure how much paint to buy? Find out how much paint you need using our guide.

Estimate your room size and paint needs before you go to the paint store. Running out of a custom color halfway through the job could mean disaster!

Painting Walls

Follow the instructions below to calculate how much paint you’ll need. To help, we’ve added an example: A room that is 10 x 15 feet with an 8-foot ceiling. The room has two doors and two windows.

1. Measure the total distance (perimeter) around the room. (10 ft. + 15 ft.) x 2 = 50 ft.
2. Multiply the perimeter by the ceiling height to get the total wall area: 50 ft. x 8 ft. = 400 sq. ft.
3. Doors are usually 21 square feet (there are two in this example): 21 sq. ft. x 2 = 42 sq. ft.
4. Windows average 15 square feet (there are two in this example): 15 sq. ft. x 2 = 30 sq. ft.
5. Take the total wall area and subtract the area for the doors and windows to get the wall surface to be painted: 400 sq. ft. (wall area) – 42 sq. ft. (doors) – 30 sq. ft. (windows) = 328 sq. ft. of walls that need to be painted.

As a rule of thumb, one gallon of quality paint will usually cover 400 square feet. One quart will cover 100 square feet. Because you need to cover 328 square feet in this example, one gallon will be adequate to give one coat of paint to the walls. (Coverage will be affected by the porosity and texture of the surface. In addition, bright colors may require a minimum of two coats.)

Painting Ceilings

• Using the rule of thumb for coverage above, you can calculate the quantity of paint needed for the ceiling by multiplying the width of the room by its length: 10 ft. x 15 ft. = 150 sq. ft. This ceiling will require approximately two quarts of paint. (A flat finish is recommended to minimize surface imperfections.)

Painting Doors, Windows, and Trim

• The area for the doors and windows has been calculated above. (The windowpane area that does not get painted should allow for enough paint for any trim around doors and windows.) Determine the baseboard trim by taking the perimeter of the room, minus 3 feet per door (3 ft. x 2 = 6 ft.), and multiplying this by the average trim width of your baseboard, which in this example is 6 inches (or 0.5 feet). 50 ft. (perimeter) – 6 ft. = 44 ft. 44 ft. x 0.5 ft. = 22 sq. ft.
• Add the area for doors, windows, and baseboard trim. 42 sq. ft. (doors) + 30 sq. ft. (windows) + 22 sq. ft. (baseboard trim) = 94 sq. ft.
• One quart will be sufficient to cover the doors, windows, and trim in this example.

Tip: Before you paint, ventilate. Keep a window or outside door open in the room you are painting to avoid breathing noxious fumes.

Now see how to choose and use a paintbrush and you’ll be in business!

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We’ve painted over 2,000 homes and choosing the right amount of paint is still tricky. Paint is expensive and you don’t want to overbuy (paint stores will not refund an already tinted gallon of paint).

We recommend only buying about 80% of the estimated paint you need at first and then buying the remainder when you’re almost finished. This keeps you from overbuying paint.

However, sometimes you don’t have time to make 2 trips to the paint store and you have to take a leap of faith. This guide will help you decide how much paint you need:

Exterior House Paint

Interior House Paint
You’ll use more interior paint in general because there is much more surface area inside a house than outside.

Factors that can DOUBLE how much paint you need:

1. Surface type

A rough surface can double the amount of paint you need. Examples of rough surfaces:

Shingle/Shake Siding

Stucco Siding

Brick

2. How many coats?

If you want two coats on a house, you’ll need about 1.5x as much paint. Many people assume you’ll need twice as much paint, but since the first coat actually covers many porous areas that would normally soak up paint, the second coat uses far less paint.

3. Drastic change in colors?

Going from light to dark can really affect how much paint you need. It can sometimes take 2-3 coats to cover a much different color.

If your old colors and new colors are on opposite sides of a color wheel, you’ll need more paint.

4. Quality of paint

The quality of paint affects how much you need also. Higher-quality, expensive paints generally cover much better than cheaper paints. This is because cheaper paints have less resin (the main component that holds paint together).

Actual Houses We Painted and How Much Paint We Used

Gallons of Body: 15
Gallons of Trim: 3
Total: 18
Factors: This house was pretty big, but it was about 30% brick, so we didn’t need as much paint.

Gallons of Body: 12
Gallons of Trim: 2
Total: 14
Factors: Smaller to Medium-sized house but the wood was in rough shape so it used more paint.

Gallons of Body: 8
Gallons of Trim: 2
Total: 10
Factors: Smaller house that was about 30% brick.

Gallons of Body: 1.5
Gallons of Trim: .5
Total: 2.5
Factors: This room took 2 gallons total. A small bedroom like this usually takes no more than 1.5 gallons and then a half a gallon for the door and baseboards. The walls had a smooth surfaces as well (which uses less paint).

Gallons of Body: 16
Gallons of Trim: 3
Total: 19
Factors: This house was bigger and half of it was stucco.

Gallons of Body: 24
Gallons of Trim: 5
Accent Gallons: 1
Total: 30
Factors: This house took a lot of paint, mainly because we went from a light beige to the dark green in the photo. Big house + serious color change + lots of trim = a lot of paint.

Secrets to Using Less Paint and Saving Money

1. Replace Spray-Tips Periodically

An old spray tip uses much more paint than a brand new one. Once the tip wears out, the fan of the spray starts to blot in the center of where you’re spraying. This uses way more paint directly where you are spraying and leaves a weak, uneven coat on the edges of the spray fan.

2. Use a Quality Paint for Big Color Changes

We covered this a little earlier, but a drastic color change means you’ll need more paint. However, if you use a high quality paint sometimes you can get by with only 1 coat, which actually saves the total paint needed. You’ll still spend more on the paint, but you’ll save money on the labor side and your home will be better protected.

3. Bend Your Wrist as You Spray

It’s important to always be moving your arm/wrist when you’re spraying a house. Ideally you always want to be about 12-18 inches away from the siding at all times. Many people pull their arm away at the last part of the sweep, creating an uneven spray job and paint buildup in the middle.

4. Use Rollers Instead of Spraying

We get this question all the time: ‘Is it better to spray or roll your house?’ The answer is: it depends on what you want. Rolling a house uses less paint but actually covers the siding and trim better. Spraying doesn’t quite push paint into every crack like rolling does, but you’ll save a lot of money on labor, as rolling can take twice as long. You also get more protective paint on the house when you spray. So there is no clear answer on which is better, it just depends on what you’re looking for.

5. Only Buy 80% of What You Think You Need

Once you estimate how much paint you need, only buy 80% of that. When your closer to finishing, you’ll have a clearer idea how much you need left. This saves you from buying too much paint.

We hope this guide helped you. Now you can accurately estimate how much paint you need on a wide array of homes. Thanks for reading!

About The Author

Chandler Zieg ran his own painting company in Denver, Colorado for several years. He also built and sold a moving company that he built utilizing lead services, which is what inspired him to start Painter Choice in 2013.

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