How to Get the Square Footage of a Room to Be Painted

You have decided to paint a room or several rooms in your house. However, do you know how to figure up the amount of paint you will need. It is more than just figuring the square foot of the floor space in the room. You must figure the wall space and square feet of baseboard and crown (trim at top and bottom of wall) if you are going to paint them. Here is how to do that. I hope these tips will help since most paint stores may not take back paint that has been mixed to a certain color.

First you measure the length of the walls. Measure the height of the walls. Multiply the two. For example if the length of the wall is 14 square feet and the height is 8 square feet, which is the average height of walls in most houses, then you have 112 square feet for one wall. Of course, now you must multiply that by 4 and you get 448 square feet of wall space.

For the baseboard you simply multiply the length of the walls, but you must compensate for and add in the door casings (door frames). Most door casings if they are of average height, which is 7 square feet, you can figure on 71 square feet of baseboard space. That is if you only have one door in the room. Add an additional 15 square feet for each door in the room.

The crown, or the trim at the top of the wall, is simple to figure. It is just the length of the wall times 4. So for a 14 square feet room, simply multiply 14 square feet by 4 and you get 56 square feet of crown space.

If you are doing the interior of a closet, it is the same way. Multiply the length and height of the walls and multiply that by 4. So a closet with two walls that are 3 square feet in length and 8 square feet in height and two walls that are 6 square feet in length and 8 square feet in height will be...8 x 3 x 2 = 48 square feet; 6 x 8 x 2 = 96 square feet for a total of 144 square feet of closet space. Figure the trim, if there is any, the same way. Most people do not bother to paint the trim in closets; and the majority of closets do not have trim except for baseboards and door casings.

So what does all of this mean if you are going to be painting a room or several rooms? The average square footage you can paint with one gallon of paint is 200 square feet. Therefore, once you have figured the square footage of the room, you can figure how many gallons of paint you will need. For example if you have a room in which there is 600 square feet to be painted, you will need three gallons of paint.

Now that is not too hard is it? I hope this will help you to know how much paint you will need if you are going to be painting a room.

Source:

Having a husband who is a professional painter