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Paint Calculators

• Paint for a Room: Computes the number of gallons of paint or primer needed to paint an entire room, the four walls and ceiling and also for just the walls.
• Room Paint Cost: Estimates the cost of paint or primer needed to cover a rectangular room (blue in diagram) based on the length, width and height of the room.
• Paint for a Wall: Computes the number of gallons of paint or primer needed to paint a wall or any rectangular area (wall or ceiling).
• Cost to Paint a Wall: Estimates the cost of paint or primer needed to cover a wall or other area defined by a length and a height or width.
• Ceiling Paint Cost: Estimates the cost of paint or primer needed to cover a ceiling of a rectangular room based on the length and width of the room.  
• Exterior Paint for a House: Computes the number of gallons of exterior paint for a gabled building like a common house based on the dimensions, number of large and small windows, number of doors and the number of coats of paint
• Wood Stain Calculator: Computes the amount of wood stain to finish wood surfaces based on a length, width and the stain product coverage defined by a container size and coverage per container.
• Deck Stain and Sealer: Computes the number of quarts of stain and sealer needed for a deck based on the size and whether rough or smooth.
• Paint for Pipes: Computes the amount of paint needed to cover the exterior surface area of one or more pipes based on the pipe diameter, length, number of coats, number of pipes and the recommended area coverage of the paint. 
• Paint for Corrugated Surfaces: Computes the amount of paint needed for a corrugated surface based on the dimensions of the corrugated surface area (length and width), a corrugation factor, coverage per gallon of paint used and the number of coats of paint.
• Paint Pricing Survey: Dataset containing a history of periodic pricing for paint products including primer and three price points (economy, medium and premium) paint.  Data comes from nationally advertised prices on the website of national retailers.

Benjamin Moore	Behr	Valspar
Magnolia Home	Glidden	Olympic
Clark + Kensington	Pittsburgh Paint	RUST-OLEUM

INTERIOR PAINT: The formulas estimates the amount of paint needed for individual walls, all the walls within a room (royal blue in diagram) and a ceiling (light blue in diagram).  Each formula calculates the area to be painted based on the dimensions entered, and then estimates the amount of paint or primer needed for this area.  A gallon of good paint typically covers 400 ft².  A gallon of primer typically covers 200 ft²..

EXTERIOR PAINT: The formula estimates the paintable surface area of a simple house (gabled).  It computes the exterior square footage and reduces the amount by a factor of the number of doors and windows.  Exterior paint is usually recommended to cover 300 ft² per gallon.

PAINT PRICING:  The Paint Price Survey pricing information is for several brands and updated monthly.  The brands include:

Painting Guidance

1. How much paint to do you need?  The calculators on this page will help you compute the amount of paint you will need for the walls and ceiling.  However, you will also need paint for the trim (baseboards, crown molding, chair rails) and for door framing. 
2. How do you want the paint to appear? Color is your first major choice, but then you also have to consider the sheen.  The most common are flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss and high gloss.  Semi-gloss and high-gloss are often used in high traffic areas and are more durable for cleaning.
3. Preparing the paint area.
   1. Obviously you want to clear the area and move items that might get in the way or be damaged if dripped with paint.
   2. Use drop cloths to protect items and reduce cleanup work.
   3. Remove items that can be easily removed to reduce trim work.  This includes outlet covers, light switches and vent covers.
   4. Surface preparation is important. 
      • If you're covering a stain, you'll want a product Kilz to stop the stain from going through the new paint. 
      • If you're covering drywall or large patches, you'll want the drywall be be smooth with patches and seams that are spackled and sanded and you'll want to remove the spackle dust with a rag or tacky cloth.
      • In all cases, scrape away old paint that is pealing.
      • Apply caulking around door frames, windows and moldings.
      • Apply painters tape on edges to protect them from paint
4. Paint from the top down.  Start with ceilings and then walls. Once these have dried, then paint windows, doors and trim.  Walls and ceilings are often painted with rollers or spray guns.  Trim work is most commonly done with smaller brushes.
5. Final Touches: After the paint has dried, slowly remove masking tape to prevent paint from pealing away with the tape. Return all removed fixtures.
6. Clean Up: Soap and water is enough for non-oil based paints.  Wash the brushes, rollers and rolling pans.  For oil-based paints, follow the manufactures guidance on the paint cans.  Retain the old paint for touchups in the future if possible.  Otherwise recycle when possible.