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A table worth keeping

Paint coverage, per coat

One figure per litre and per coat. The coat is the unit that matters: two coats on a wall means twice the area.

CaseUsual value
Primer, bonding undercoat12 m²/L
Matt acrylic10 to 12 m²/L
Satin acrylic11 to 13 m²/L
Gloss enamel12 to 14 m²/L
Facade paint4 to 6 m²/L
Floor paint6 to 8 m²/L

Usual sizing values, aligned with this site's calculators. They replace neither a product datasheet nor a regulatory text.

A manufacturer's stated coverage holds on a prepared, dry, non-absorbent substrate. On new plaster or a porous facade, the first coat drops sharply, sometimes by half. That is what primer is for: it costs less per litre than the topcoat it saves.

The primer row reuses the value used by this site's paint calculator: the table and the tool cannot contradict each other.

To apply these values to a real area, with no account:

Paint calculator

Frequently asked questions

How many coats should you plan for?

Two topcoats on a prepared substrate, three when covering a strong colour with a light shade. Pricing a single coat is the mistake that turns a margin into a loss.

How do you get the paintable area from a drawing?

By multiplying the wall lengths by the ceiling height, then deducting the openings. It is a simple calculation but a long one by hand over a whole storey, and it is exactly what FloorScan produces from a PDF.

The areas themselves come out of the drawing

An allowance is useless without the area to apply it to. FloorScan reads it off the PDF and exports it to your spreadsheet.