Calculators
Floor, wood and specialty coating calculators
Concrete, epoxy, sealer, wood stain, floor finish, furniture and metal: coverage by surface, not by can.
Floors, furniture and masonry are where a general-purpose paint calculator fails: the products are different, the surfaces are porous or sealed, and the answer is often in kits, quarts or spray cans rather than gallons. Epoxy is sold by the kit, hardwood finish goes on in three thin coats, stain disappears into softwood and sits on hardwood, and a split-face block wall can take twice the filler of a smooth one.
Each calculator here starts from the coverage printed on a typical data sheet for that product class, names the sheet, and lets you replace the figure with the one on your can. Where a surface is porous, the first coat is budgeted separately from the rest.
8 calculators
Concrete & Garage Floor Paint Calculator
Floor paint, one-part epoxy or sealer for concrete, with the etch and primer for bare slabs.
Epoxy Floor Kit Calculator
Two-part epoxy kits, decorative flakes and clear topcoat for a garage or basement floor.
Masonry & Brick Sealer Calculator
Penetrating or film-forming sealer for brick, block, pavers and concrete by porosity and coats.
Wood Stain & Finish Calculator
Stain, conditioner and clear finish for furniture, doors and woodwork, measured as boxes or by area.
Hardwood Floor Finish Calculator
Polyurethane or hardwax oil for a wood floor by finish type and coats, with the sealer coat.
Furniture Paint Calculator
Chalk paint, enamel or spray cans for a dresser, table or cabinet, measured as a box with its doors.
Concrete Block Filler Calculator
Block filler for concrete block walls by texture, in gallons and pails, before the topcoat.
Radiator & Metal Panel Paint Calculator
Heat-resistant paint for panel, column or baseboard radiators, by brush or spray can.
Guides for this topic
Deck stain coverage: new wood, weathered wood and product type
Deck stain coverage is set by the wood, not the can. A new, smooth deck might take a gallon; the same deck weathered and grey takes two. Here is how to tell which you have.
Dry, recoat and cure: how long paint really takes
Latex is dry to the touch in an hour and not fully hard for about three weeks. Knowing which clock you are on decides when to recoat, when to rehang doors, and when to wash the walls.
Painting kitchen cabinets: how much primer and paint, and why
A kitchen of cabinets is only about 180 sq ft of surface, but it is the hardest-wearing paint job in the house. The quantity is small; the prep and the product decide whether it lasts.
Siding types and how much more paint rough surfaces take
The same house takes 9 gallons in smooth panels and over 13 in painted brick. Here is where the extra goes, which product each surface needs, and how to plan for it.
Questions people ask
- How much epoxy do I need for a 2-car garage?
- A 20 × 24 ft garage is 480 sq ft. Epoxy kits are sold by nominal area, commonly 250 sq ft per kit for a single coat, so that floor takes two kits per coat; a clear topcoat is a separate product at roughly 300 sq ft per gallon. The epoxy kit calculator counts kits, flake bags and topcoat.
- How many coats of polyurethane does a floor need?
- Three is the standard recommendation on bare or sanded wood, with a sealer coat sometimes counted as the first. Oil-based polyurethane covers about 500 sq ft per gallon per coat; water-based about 450, and it is often applied in four thinner coats. The hardwood floor finish calculator works in cans per coat.
- How much stain for a dresser?
- Very little. A 36 in wide, 18 in deep, 30 in tall dresser has about 20 sq ft of visible surface, and a wiping stain on sanded hardwood goes about 400 to 500 sq ft per gallon, so a half-pint or a quart does it with most of it left over. The wood stain calculator measures pieces as boxes and tells you which sides to count.
- How much sealer does brick take?
- Penetrating masonry sealers cover about 100 sq ft per gallon on porous brick and old mortar, 150 on medium surfaces and 200 on dense, smooth masonry, with the first coat drinking most of it. The sealer calculator takes a porosity setting and the number of coats.
- How far does chalk paint go?
- The makers quote about 150 sq ft per quart or litre, which is more than ordinary paint because the film is thin and matt. Real furniture has edges, insides and drawer fronts, so the furniture paint calculator measures the piece as a box and adds the drawers and doors separately.
More calculators on our other sites
Floorings Calculator
How much tile, wood, vinyl, carpet, underlayment and trim a floor needs, and what it costs.
Roofings Calculator
Shingles, pitch, rafters, metal panels, gutters, ventilation and what a new roof costs.
The Woven Garden
Garden and yard calculators for mulch, soil, gravel, sod, pavers, fences and decks.