Paint calculator: gallons for the walls, the ceilings and the primer
The walls all the way round, less the doors and windows, times the coats, divided by what a gallon covers. Round up, and that is the paint to buy. In the example below, two bedrooms take 4 gallons for the walls, 1 for the ceilings and 3 of primer.
Count the paint
Type the rooms. You get the square feet of wall to paint, the gallons to buy for the walls, the ceilings and the primer, and lines to put on a quote. Trim and doors are not in it.
The rooms
Length and width of each floor. A new row opens when the last one is filled.
The walls
One height for every room above. Count rooms of another height apart.
It starts at 2, what one maker's own calculator assumes. Type what this job needs.
It starts at 20: 3 feet by 6 feet 8 inches. Type yours.
It starts at 15: 3 feet by 5. Type yours.
On the can or its data sheet. It starts at 350, the low end of what one maker gives.
Ceilings and primer
Each is counted apart, because each is often its own can.
Leave it empty if the ceilings are not painted.
Leave it empty if there is none.
It starts at 250, the middle of what one maker gives.
Type the length and the width of a room, and the height of its walls. The count shows here.
Two bedrooms, counted
An example with made-up numbers, not a going rate
Say two bedrooms are 12 by 14 feet and 11 by 12, both with 8 foot walls. All the way round, the walls are 784 square feet. Say there are 3 doors of 20 square feet and 4 windows of 15: 120 come out, and you paint 664. With 2 coats that is 1,328 square feet. Say your paint covers 350 square feet a gallon: 3.79 gallons, so you buy 4. The ceilings are 300 square feet, and a single coat takes 1 gallon. A single coat of primer, at 250 square feet a gallon, takes 3.
How it is worked out
- Each room: its length and its width added, doubled, times the height of the walls. Add the rooms.
- Take out the doors and the windows: how many of each, times the square feet of one.
- Times the coats. Benjamin Moore's own calculator assumes 2 and leaves the ceiling out. It also says its answer is no more than a rough estimate, because what a job takes varies with many things, how the paint is put on among them.
- Divided by what a gallon covers. Sherwin-Williams puts a gallon of paint at about 350 to 400 square feet and a gallon of primer at about 200 to 300, and says that depending on the wall's texture a little more on hand may be best.
- Round up to whole gallons. The last part of a gallon is shown in quarts too, and 5 gallons or more as buckets and singles.
- The ceilings are length times width, room by room, with their own coats. Primer goes on what you paint, at its own coverage.
Three counts, because it is three cans
Walls, ceilings and primer are counted apart because they are bought apart, and because on a quote they are better apart. A customer who drops the ceilings drops one line, and nothing else has to be worked out again.
Trim, doors and cabinets are not in the count. They are not measured by the square foot of wall, and neither paint maker's page gives a figure for them. Count them your own way and give them their own line.
More than one color on the walls? Count each color's rooms by themselves. A part gallon is a whole can in each color.
What this count is not
- It is not the can's own figure. The coverage printed on the can you buy is the one that counts, and the maker says it changes with the surface and with how the paint goes on.
- It does not say how many coats a wall needs. The box starts where a maker's calculator starts. What this wall needs is your call.
- It does not price anything. TailGateBid has no price data, and the box for what a gallon costs you is on the page that prices the walls.
From the count to the quote
The lines under the calculator read the way a quote takes them: a quantity, a unit and a name. The square feet are the work, and the gallons are what you buy for it.
Next, work out what to charge to paint those walls: the gallons at what one costs you, and the hours of prep and of painting. Or put the lines on an estimate and print it.
TailGateBid for painters has a living room quote worked through, and in the app walls, ceilings and trim can be options on a quote your customer signs on their phone.
Where each number comes from
- The box for the coats starts at 2. Benjamin Moore's own calculator assumes that many. Starting there is our choice: type what this job needs. Benjamin Moore, paint calculator, . (our choice, change it)
- The box for what a gallon covers starts at 350 square feet. Sherwin-Williams puts a gallon of paint at about 350 to 400 square feet. Starting at the low end is our choice. Use the figure on the can you are buying. Sherwin-Williams, questions under its paint calculator, . (our choice, change it)
- The box for what a gallon of primer covers starts at 250 square feet. Sherwin-Williams puts a gallon of primer at about 200 to 300 square feet. Starting in the middle is our choice. Sherwin-Williams, questions under its paint calculator, . (our choice, change it)
- The box for one door starts at 20 square feet: a door 3 feet wide and 6 feet 8 inches tall. Neither paint maker we read says what its calculator takes out for a door, so the size is our choice. Measure yours. (our choice, change it)
- The box for one window starts at 15 square feet: a window 3 feet wide and 5 feet tall. That size is our choice too. Measure yours. (our choice, change it)
- A gallon is 4 quarts. That is how the last part of a gallon is shown as quarts.
On a TailGateBid quote the walls are a line by the square foot and the paint is a line of its own, each with your price beside it.
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Sources
Related
- Interior paintingSquare feet of wall, gallons at your cost, and the hours of prep counted apart from the hours of painting, worked into a price for a square foot.
- PaintingSquare feet, coats and gallons on a quote with options your customer picks from.
- Estimate makerType a few lines and print a clean estimate or quote, in English or Spanish. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
- Job price16 hours of work and $600 of materials cost you $1,320. See what five prices would leave you.
By TailGateBid. .
A count is as good as the measurements you type. What is printed on the bag, the can or the pail you buy decides, and so do the plans.