All tools · Utilities

Paint Estimator

Litres of paint needed to cover a wall area.

Free to use, no sign-up required. Paint Estimator is one of 198 tools built into Xenition, alongside a chat that can use them for you.

Works out how many litres of wall paint a job needs and how many whole cans to buy, for anyone about to repaint a room or a fence.

How to use Paint Estimator

  1. Enter the Wall area in m², leaving out doors and windows if you want a tighter figure.
  2. Set Coats (two is usual over a different colour) and Coverage in m² per litre from the tin’s label.
  3. Pick a Can size: 1 L, 2.5 L or 5 L.
  4. Read Cans to buy, the litres left spare, and Paint needed with and without the 10% margin.

How it works

Litres = wall area × coats ÷ coverage. The tool then adds a fixed 10% for touch-ups and uneven surfaces, divides by the can size and rounds up to whole cans. Spare paint is cans × can size minus the litres with the margin.

Example

40 m² of wall, 2 coats, 10 m²/L: 40 × 2 ÷ 10 = 8 L. With the 10% margin that is 8.8 L, so in 2.5 L cans you buy 4 (10 L) and have 1.2 L spare.

Questions about Paint Estimator

How much does a litre of paint cover?

Most emulsion covers about 10 to 12 m² per litre per coat on smooth, primed walls. Rough plaster, bare wood and fresh render soak up more, so lower the coverage figure for those.

Do I really need two coats?

Usually, yes, when changing colour or painting new plaster. One coat can do for a refresh in the same colour. The coats number multiplies the paint directly, so two coats needs twice the litres.

Use it from chat

You do not have to open Paint Estimator to use it. Ask Xenition in plain language and it runs the right tool, then carries the answer into whatever you are working on — a document, a spreadsheet, a deck.

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