TIL that most interior paint only covers about 250 square feet per gallon, not the 400 they claim on the can

I measured out my living room walls in Portland last weekend and found I needed almost twice as much paint as the label said, so after three coats I ended up spending $80 more than I planned, has anyone else noticed this gap between what's advertised and real-world coverage?

2 comments

2 Comments

tarac164d ago

Wait, so it's not just my crappy painting skills? lol I honestly thought I was just bad at estimating until I had the exact same problem painting my bathroom last month. The can said 400 square feet, but my bathroom is only like 50 square feet and I still ran out halfway through the second coat. I used to just trust the label numbers without thinking, but now I'm definitely going to measure everything out beforehand and plan on buying at least one extra gallon. The way they advertise coverage is basically a lie, and it's annoying how much it adds up cost-wise, especially when you're going from a dark color to a light one.

miles5813d ago

Yeah paint companies absolutely inflate those numbers. Its basically marketing math that assumes perfect conditions that never happen in real life. The dark to light thing is the worst though. I did a deep red living room once and it took four coats to cover it with white. Ended up using way more than double what the label said. Measure everything and add 20% minimum is the only way to go.