How Much Paint for a 3000 Square Foot House?
Paint needed
44.75 gallons
A 3,000 sq ft house, interior walls taken as 2.8 times the floor area, sixteen doors, eighteen 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 walls1050 ft
- Wall height8 ft
- Doors16
- Windows18
- Coats2
- Coverage per gallon350 sq ft
Paint needed44.75 gallons
| Gross wall area | 8,400 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Less doors and windows | -606 sq ft |
| Net wall area | 7,794 sq ft |
| Area over 2 coats | 15,588 sq ft |
| Gallons, exact | 44.54 |
| Buy | 45 gallonsor 9 five gallon pail |
The material list this produces
| Paint, gallons | 45 |
|---|---|
| Primer, gallons (if bare or color change) | 23 |
| Painter's tape, rolls | 18 |
Coats compared
Coats is the input people get wrong, usually by hoping. Same room, one coat to three.
| Coats | Paint needed |
|---|---|
| 1 coat | 22.5 gallons |
| 2 coats | 44.75 gallons |
| 3 coats | 67 gallons |
What else matters here
Forty five gallons, nine five gallon pails, and at this volume the buying changes. A paint store will quote a contractor price on an order this size whether or not you are a contractor, and the difference between shelf price and quoted price on nine pails is worth the phone call.
Houses of this size usually have at least one room with a ceiling above eight feet, and that is where the estimate goes wrong. A two story entry or a vaulted living room needs scaffolding or a tall ladder, takes far longer per square foot than a flat eight foot room, and should be priced as its own line rather than folded into the average.
Order it all at once, in the same batch, and box each color before starting. Chasing a matching gallon three weeks into a job is how a house ends up with one bedroom that is very slightly not the same white as the others.
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 3000 square foot house?
About 45 gallons for two coats on the interior walls, or nine five gallon pails, with ceilings and trim on top.
Can I get a discount on a large paint order?
Usually yes. Paint stores quote on volume, and an order of nine pails is normally enough to be quoted rather than sold at shelf price.
What makes a large house harder to estimate?
High ceilings. A vaulted room or a two story entry needs access equipment and takes much longer per square foot, so it belongs on its own line rather than averaged in.
The paint calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.