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Estimating Paint By The Floor Sq. Ft.

4K views 29 replies 9 participants last post by  iDAHOchris 
#1 ·
Is there a constant that you can multiply the floor sq. ft. by, to get paint and primer, at say, 300 and 400 sq. ft. per gallon, for a given wall height??

Obviously, each wall height would have a different constant, and cathedral ceilings and whatnot would not conform. I'm just assuming that those of you who do painting exclusively must have a quick way to estimate. If it's not something anyone wishes to disclose on a public forum, I understand.

The closest I came up with is 153 as a constant, for 8ft walls. I need to run a bunch of other dimensions to see if that holds up.

I hope some of this makes sense. End of a long, frustrating, day.



:drink:
 
#2 ·
This is something I never tried to do but people are always asking this question.
For material estimating:
The way I see it just keep it simple, you have to measure the floor to get a square foot area, why not just multiply the perimeter by the height and forget the formulas?

I never do labor costs by the square foot.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Yeah, I'm not talking about doing my whole estimate by the sq. ft., just figuring quantity of paint.

Like for a new home, it's 1,700 sq. ft., all 8' walls, if there was a formula, hell, you wouldn't even have to go to the job site, just multiply by your constant, add a little for closets or whatnot, and you'd be good.


I don't know, maybe I played with math too much as a kid.
 
#22 · (Edited)
3.7 x the floor area 6290 divided by 48 [4x12 boards] 131 BOARDS 6288 board ft.. I'd tack 7 boards to that.

I do the formula first then do a walk through for a closer count..

I played with math very little as a kid :laughing: Hope my #s made sense.. 16 gallons ?
 
#19 ·
My hands may be stealing......

You watering at all? I dont.
No. I don't water. I always prime first, though. The first coat is always way low, second coat pretty much brings me up to average.

Always do two coats.


I'm in the middle of a whole house repaint, about 1800 sf, I'd guess. Gonna get some better numbers this time, and I'll report back. Been awhile since I did a whole house repaint.
 
#26 ·
So I measured today.

1900 sq. ft. rolled today. :rolleyes: (I know, closets with built-in shelving is killing me.) Used 5 gallons. Equals out to 380 sq. ft. per gallon. :thumbsup:

Keep in mind this is a repaint, though, over primer. New drywall is thirstier, I'm sure.
 
#23 ·
Had a builder use the formula once to figure the board count...Being a carpenter dealing with ply board most of the time he divided by 36..

Had chit load of board left over on that one:laughing:
 
#25 · (Edited)
This was a stupid question. Rough day yesterday. :rolleyes:

There is no way to tell from floor area, what wall area will be. Large room, percentage goes up, small room, vice versa.

Unless all rooms are roughly the same size.....

I'm sure the pro painters have shortcuts to speed up estimating materials, but for now, I'll stick to measuring each wall.
 
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