How much paint does a 3 bedroom house need? A worked Kenyan example

"How many buckets will I need?" It is the first question every homeowner asks, and the answer you get at the hardware is often a guess. Guess low and you are back in the shop mid-job, hoping the new batch matches. Guess high and you are storing half-full tins under the stairs.

Below we walk through a real calculation for a typical Kenyan 3 bedroom bungalow, room by room, using the coverage figures from our own data sheets. Your house will be different, but once you see the method you can redo it in ten minutes with a tape measure, or use our paint calculator.

The method in four lines

1. Wall area = room perimeter × wall height.
2. Subtract openings (doors and windows).
3. Multiply by coats (two is the honest default).
4. Divide by coverage in m² per litre per coat, from the data sheet of the paint you are using.

Coverage varies by product and by surface, which is why we use the actual figure for each paint rather than one generic number.

Our example house

These dimensions are an example, not a standard. Measure your own.

• Wall height: 2.7 m
• Doors: 0.9 × 2.1 m = 1.89 m² each
• Windows: 1.2 × 1.2 m = 1.44 m² each; small bathroom window 0.6 × 0.6 m = 0.36 m²

| Room | Size (m) | Gross wall area | Openings | Net wall area | |---|---|---|---|---| | Living and dining | 6.0 × 4.5 | 56.7 m² | 2 doors, 3 windows | 48.6 m² | | Master bedroom | 3.6 × 3.6 | 38.9 m² | 1 door, 1 window | 35.6 m² | | Bedroom 2 | 3.0 × 3.0 | 32.4 m² | 1 door, 1 window | 29.1 m² | | Bedroom 3 | 3.0 × 3.0 | 32.4 m² | 1 door, 1 window | 29.1 m² | | Corridor | 6.0 × 1.2 | 38.9 m² | 5 doors | 29.4 m² | | Kitchen | 3.0 × 3.0 | 32.4 m² | 2 doors, 1 window | 27.2 m² | | Bathroom and WC | 2.4 × 1.8 | 22.7 m² | 1 door, 1 small window | 20.4 m² |

Totals:

• Living areas, bedrooms and corridor: 171.8 m²
• Kitchen and bathroom: 47.6 m²
• Ceilings (floor area of all rooms): 78.5 m²

Interior walls: living room, bedrooms, corridor

We would use Colourtrend Vinyl Matt Emulsion, a washable matt. Its data sheet gives approximately 14 to 15 m² per litre per coat, depending on how porous the surface is. We plan on the lower figure, 14.

171.8 m² × 2 coats ÷ 14 = 24.5 litres

Buy: one 20 litre + one 4 litre + one 1 litre = 25 litres.

Kitchen and bathroom

Here we want a wipeable finish that resists grease and stains, so Vinyl Silk Emulsion. Data sheet coverage: approximately 11 to 15 m² per litre per coat. Planning on 11:

47.6 m² × 2 ÷ 11 = 8.7 litres

Buy: two 4 litre + one 1 litre = 9 litres.

Ceilings

Two options:

• Vinyl Matt at 14 m²/L: 78.5 × 2 ÷ 14 = 11.2 litres (three 4 litre tins = 12 litres).
• High Matt Emulsion, an interior matt for walls and ceilings at approximately 10 to 12 m²/L, sold in 20 litres: 78.5 × 2 ÷ 10 = 15.7 litres, so one 20 litre bucket, with some left for touch-ups.

Exterior walls

Say the house is 14 m × 10 m with 3.0 m walls: perimeter 48 m × 3.0 = 144 m². Subtract eight windows and two external doors (15.3 m²) and you have 128.7 m².

With Weather Guard Exterior at approximately 12 to 14 m² per litre per coat, planning on 12:

128.7 × 2 ÷ 12 = 21.5 litres

Buy: one 20 litre + one 4 litre = 24 litres. Gable ends, parapets and boundary walls are extra, so measure them separately.

Doors, frames and grilles

For gloss on wooden doors and steel, Super Gloss Enamel covers approximately 15 to 16 m² per litre per coat on a smooth surface. One standard door is about 1.9 m² per side, so two coats on both sides is about 7.6 m², or roughly half a litre per door before frames. Eight doors therefore need around 4 litres, plus frames and any grilles.

Summary for our example house

| Area | Product | Litres needed | Packs to buy | |---|---|---|---| | Living, bedrooms, corridor | Vinyl Matt | 24.5 | 20 + 4 + 1 L | | Kitchen, bathroom | Vinyl Silk | 8.7 | 4 + 4 + 1 L | | Ceilings | High Matt Emulsion | 15.7 | 20 L | | Exterior walls | Weather Guard Exterior | 21.5 | 20 + 4 L | | Doors and frames | Super Gloss Enamel | about 4 plus frames | 4 L (+1 L) |

That is roughly 70 to 75 litres of wall and ceiling paint for this house at two coats, plus gloss. A smaller 2 bedroom house scales down from here; just remove the rooms you do not have.

New house? Plan for more

Fresh plaster is thirsty. The first coat on new walls soaks in, so the real coverage of that coat is lower than the data-sheet figure. [Placeholder to confirm with Maroo technical team: recommended extra allowance for the first coat on new plaster.]

On new interior walls, an undercoat of Plastic Distemper is an economical undercoat that gives a smooth flat base ready for your emulsion topcoat. [Placeholder to confirm: Plastic Distemper coverage.]

Fill cracks and make good the plaster before painting, so you are not paying for paint to fill holes.

What will it cost?

Paint is only part of the bill. Labour, filler, sandpaper, brushes, rollers and tape add up.

• Paint: multiply the packs above by current prices: 20 L Vinyl Matt [price to confirm], 4 L Vinyl Matt [price to confirm], 4 L Vinyl Silk [price to confirm], 20 L High Matt Emulsion [price to confirm], 20 L Weather Guard [price to confirm], 4 L Super Gloss [price to confirm].
• Labour: fundis quote per room, per square metre or per job. [Placeholder: typical labour range from our fundi network survey.] Find painters through our fundi network.
• Sundries: filler, sandpaper, masking tape, rollers and brushes. Budget a little extra.

To save money without cutting corners: use trade or Economy emulsions on ceilings and in store rooms, keep premium vinyl for the rooms people see and touch, and buy everything in one go so colours match. If you are painting rental units, ask about trade pricing.

Let us do the sums

Send us your room sizes through Get a quote and we will work out the quantities per product, by coats and surface type, and send an itemised quote. Or measure up and use the paint calculator.

Not sure which paint goes where? Read Emulsion, vinyl matt, silk or sheen?. Kusoma kwa Kiswahili: Rangi ya nyumba: lita ngapi na bei gani.

Frequently asked questions

How many litres of paint for a 3 bedroom house in Kenya? For the example bungalow above, about 70 to 75 litres of wall and ceiling paint for two coats inside and out, plus gloss for doors. Measure your own house; the method is in this article.

How many litres of paint per square metre? It depends on the product. Our Vinyl Matt covers approximately 14 to 15 m² per litre per coat, Vinyl Silk approximately 11 to 15, and Weather Guard Exterior approximately 12 to 14. Two coats double the litres.

Should I buy 20 litre or 4 litre buckets? If you need 15 litres or more of one colour, a 20 litre bucket keeps the whole job in one batch. Compare the price per litre of each pack size at your stockist.

Buy from a stockist near you or call +254 734 411 544.