How Many Litres Of Paint Do I Need To Paint My Home?

There is nothing like renovating a room and adding a coat of new paint. Many people that are at the beginning of an interior painting project wonder just how much paint they will need to paint their home. The good news is, that if you hire a residential house painter, this is not your problem.

Having said that, a general rule of thumb is that one litre of paint will cover a 6.5m by 6.5m wall. However, this blanket rule does not always apply. One way to work out how much paint to buy is to follow this equation.

Total Wall Surface Area / (divided by) the coverage rate per litre x (multiplied by) the number of coats required.

There is a good paint calculator provided by Dulux here.

This equation however leads to the second question for this post :

How Many Coats Of Paint Do I Need?

A good rule of thumb for this one is that you will need generally two coats of paint on an inside wall. After applying an undercoat, it is very difficult to just apply one top coat and get a good finish, or even coverage. A second coat will almost always be necessary.

This is theoretically. In reality, it will depend on a few circumstances, such as the colour, the sheen, and the state of the wall before you begin painting. A new plasterboard wall will soak up quite a lot more paint that one which has been previously painted.

So while there are no exact answers, there are some pretty good guides. We understand that the price per litre for the same paint changes a lot, the more you buy. If you are not sure, get the bigger one. You can always use it to touch up, or in another area too. Paint lasts a long time in the can these days as long as you seal it well.

As experienced house painters in Melbourne, we would be happy to give you a quote for any residential house painting you would like to have done. Inside or out.