ContractorHandbook

How Much Paint for a 6x8 Bathroom?

Paint needed

1.25 gallons

A 6 by 8 bathroom with eight foot walls, one door, one window, two coats.

It does not stop at a number.

When the figures look right, the paint material list downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.

doorwindowwindowheightperimeter of the room, ftnet wall area x coats / coverage per gallon = gallons
A room painted is its perimeter multiplied by its height, laid out flat, with the doors and windows taken out. Multiply by the number of coats before dividing by the coverage on the can, because two coats is two full areas of paint.

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 walls28 ft
  • Wall height8 ft
  • Doors1
  • Windows1
  • Coats2
  • Coverage per gallon350 sq ft

Paint needed1.25 gallons

Gross wall area224 sq ft
Less doors and windows-36 sq ft
Net wall area188 sq ft
Area over 2 coats376 sq ft
Gallons, exact1.07
Buy2 gallonsor 1 five gallon pail

The material list this produces

Paint, gallons2
Primer, gallons (if bare or color change)1
Painter's tape, rolls1

Coats compared

Coats is the input people get wrong, usually by hoping. Same room, one coat to three.

CoatsPaint needed
1 coat0.75 gallons
2 coats1.25 gallons
3 coats1.75 gallons

What else matters here

One and seven hundredths of a gallon. This room is the most annoying answer the calculator gives, because it is over a gallon by an amount you would not notice if you ran out on the last wall.

There are three honest ways out. Buy a gallon and a quart and accept that the quart is poor value per ounce. Buy two gallons and keep the rest for touch ups, which is what most people do. Or drop to one coat if the new color is close to the old one, which needs 0.54 gallons and settles it.

Do not try to stretch the gallon by thinning it. Thinned paint covers less, not more, and the second coat over a thin first coat shows every roller lap for as long as the wall is up.

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 6x8 bathroom?

About 1.07 gallons for two coats, which means a gallon plus a quart, or two gallons with a useful amount left for touch ups.

Is one gallon enough for a 6x8 bathroom?

For one coat, easily. For two coats you are a fraction over, so either buy the extra quart or accept one coat if the color change is small.

Can I thin paint to make it go further?

No. Thinning reduces the film thickness so it covers less per coat, and it makes roller laps and edges show through the finish.

Different numbers?

The paint calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.

Other common sizes