How much exterior paint do I need?
Whole house, by color scheme — body, trim, accent — with gables, eaves and siding texture factored in. Free, no email required to see the math.
Your house
Footprint, longest side
Gable ends are on the width
Triangles under the roof peaks — sprayed with the body
Sets the gable height + rake length
You'll need
Assumptions (tap to adjust)+
The math, in plain English.
Exteriors are bid as a color scheme, not a square-foot total. The body color goes on the siding, the gable triangles, and the eaves and soffits (we spray those with the body). The trim color covers the fascia, the rakes up each gable, and the casings around windows and doors — corner boards too if you run them in trim. The accent is usually just the front door, sometimes a gable or one wall out front. Each color is its own product and gets rounded up on its own.
Body area starts at the perimeter times 8 feet per story, minus doors and windows. Each gable adds a triangle — half the house width times the peak height, which comes from your roof pitch — and the eaves add the overhang all the way around. Rough siding like cedar, T1-11 or stucco soaks up more paint, so we scale the body area by a texture factor before dividing by the coverage on the can. Bare wood and new siding get primer first; a repaint over sound paint usually doesn't.
Trim is figured by the linear foot: the fascia around the house, both rakes on every gable, and roughly 16 feet of casing per window and 17 per door. Semi-gloss is the normal trim sheen outside — it sheds water and wipes clean. Before any of it goes on, the house gets a pressure wash, loose paint scraped, and the joints re-caulked; that prep is what makes an exterior job last in the PNW, and it's most of the labor.
Exterior Paint questions
How much paint does it take to paint the outside of a house?+
A typical one-story, three-bedroom house in Clark County with smooth siding takes about 8–10 gallons of body color for two coats, 2–3 gallons of trim, and a quart or two for the front door. Two stories, cedar, or a lot of gables push the body number up fast — run your own footprint above.
Do I need primer on exterior siding?+
New or bare wood, new fiber cement, and any spot you scraped to bare material get primed. A repaint over sound, clean, chalk-free paint usually only needs a good wash and spot-priming the repairs. Big color changes (dark over light) are easier with a tinted primer coat.
What sheen should I use for body vs. trim?+
Satin or low-lustre on the body — it hides siding imperfections and still sheds water. Semi-gloss on trim and doors so they wipe clean and pop against the body. Flat exterior paint chalks faster in our wet winters and is hard to keep clean.
Does spraying use more paint than brushing?+
Spraying puts more paint on the wall per pass and loses some to overspray, so plan on 10–20% more than a brush-and-roll estimate — but it's how you get eaves, soffits and rough siding done right. We spray and back-roll the body so the paint is worked into the siding, then brush the trim.
How much does exterior painting cost in Vancouver, WA?+
These ranges reflect the Vancouver, WA / Portland metro market — outside the area, treat them as a rough guide. A typical range for a full exterior repaint runs from the low thousands for a small one-story with good existing paint up into the five figures for a two-story with heavy prep, dry rot repairs, or cedar. The prep — washing, scraping, caulking, rot repair — is most of the cost. Want a real number? Request a free estimate and we'll price it line by line.
When is the best time to paint an exterior in the Pacific Northwest?+
Late spring through early fall, once the siding is dry and nights stay above about 50°F — most exterior paints need that to cure. In Clark County that's usually May–September; we watch the forecast for a dry window and never paint wet siding.
Terms used here
Get a free estimate for exterior painting.
You've got the numbers — we've got the crew. Free onsite consult and a line-item quote, usually same day to 48 hours, depending on scope.