- 1). Measure the length of the first wall to be painted in inches (rather than inches and feet).
- 2). Measure the height of the wall. Start from the baseboard and end at the ceiling but before any crown molding, as you will probably want to paint that with either a different color or in a semi-gloss paint.
- 3). Multiply the height times the width of the wall to get the overall area. For instance, if your wall is 90 inches high by 150 inches long, the overall area is 13,500 square inches.
- 4). Measure the length and height of any openings in the wall, such as windows or doorways.
- 5). Multiply the length times the height of each of the openings, and add them together. If you have two windows, each 30 inches wide by 60 inches high, that is 3,600 square inches.
- 6). Subtract the total area of the openings from the total area of the wall. In this example, 13,500 minus 3,600 leaves 9,900 square inches of area to paint.
- 7). Divide the total area in inches by 144 to get the total number of square feet. Here, 9,900 divided by 144 yields 68.75 square feet.
- 8). Repeat the above for each wall in the house to be painted, and add up the final totals to determine the square footage of the house you are painting.
previous post
next post