How much paint should I buy?

Its one of the most important steps of the painting process. Deciding how much paint to buy. Too much and you waste money on paint that usually cannot be returned. Buy too little and you waste time and possibly won't get the exact same color. So how do you decide how much to buy? We will tell you.

Determine your wall square footage

To figure out how much paint you need, you need to first figure out how much wall space you have. To determine the square footage, multiply your walls length by its height. Add together all of the walls and you have your square footage. Be sure to include your ceilings square footage (length times width) if you are painting it.

Add 10 to 15 percent to your final square footage. This will leave you with extra paint to account for waste and will give you extra paint to do future touch ups.

Find Your Paint's Spread Rate

Look on the can of paint to find its spread rate. This is the rate that the paint should be applied, not necessarily the amount of wall it can cover. Some paints will do better if applied thinner or thicker and the spread rate will show you how thickly you should apply it. If you try to stretch your paint too far, it may not look right or perform well. Most paints will cover about 400 square feet per gallon.

Divide Your Spread Rate Into Your Square Footage

Divide your square footage by the cans spread rate. So for example, if you have 600 SF of walls and the can covers 400SF per gallon, you need 1.5 gallons of paint so you should buy 2 gallons.

If you have 900 SF of wall space and your paint covers 300 SF per gallon, you should buy 3 gallons.