How Much Paint for a 1200 Square Foot House?
Paint needed
17 gallons
A 1,200 sq ft house, interior walls taken as 2.8 times the floor area, ten doors, twelve windows, two coats.
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How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Room perimeter, add all walls420 ft
- Wall height8 ft
- Doors10
- Windows12
- Coats2
- Coverage per gallon350 sq ft
Paint needed17 gallons
| Gross wall area | 3,360 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Less doors and windows | -390 sq ft |
| Net wall area | 2,970 sq ft |
| Area over 2 coats | 5,940 sq ft |
| Gallons, exact | 16.97 |
| Buy | 17 gallonsor 4 five gallon pail |
The material list this produces
| Paint, gallons | 17 |
|---|---|
| Primer, gallons (if bare or color change) | 9 |
| Painter's tape, rolls | 7 |
Coats compared
Same room, one coat to three.
| Coats | Paint needed |
|---|---|
| 1 coat | 8.5 gallons |
| 2 coats | 17 gallons |
| 3 coats | 25.5 gallons |
What else matters here
This preset takes the interior wall area as 2.8 times the floor area.
On 1,200 square feet that is 3,360 square feet of wall gross, 2,970 after ten doors and twelve windows, and about 17 gallons over two coats.
Buy it in five gallon pails rather than gallons. Four pails is 20 gallons against the 17 needed.
What this calculator assumes
- A door is taken as 21 sq ft and a window as 15 sq ft. Deducting them matters on a small room and barely moves a big one.
- 350 sq ft per gallon is the usual figure on a smooth primed wall. Bare drywall, textured walls and deep color changes all drink more, so drop it to 300 if any of those apply.
- Ceilings and trim are not included. Run the ceiling as its own area.
Questions people ask
How much paint for a 1200 square foot house?
About 17 gallons for two coats on the interior walls, taking wall area as roughly 2.8 times the floor area.
How do I work out the wall area of a whole house?
Measure the perimeter of every room and multiply by the ceiling height. This preset takes it as 2.8 times the floor area instead.
Is that figure for walls only?
Yes. Ceilings, trim and doors are separate, and a ceiling is close to the floor area, so 1,200 square feet of ceiling is about 3.4 gallons a coat.
The paint calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.