Fence stain calculator
How much stain or paint for a fence? Roughly one gallon of semi-transparent per 53 linear feet of 6 ft picket, one side, one coat. A 100 ft privacy fence, 6 ft tall, one side, is about 4 gal + 2 qt for two coats; spaced pickets on the same run drop to about 3 gal + 1 qt because the gaps are air, not wood.
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How the math works
Start with a solid wall of the same size: length times height times the sides you coat. A 100 ft run, 6 ft tall, one side, is 600 sq ft. Then the style adjusts it. Spaced pickets are about 70% of that, because the gaps between boards carry no stain. Board-on-board is about 15% more than solid, since the overlapped boards and their back edges are wood the roller and brush still have to reach. Solid privacy panels are the baseline at 100%.
From there it is the same stain math as the deck. Semi-transparent covers about 250 sq ft per gallon, solid about 175. The first coat carries a 12% buffer for thirsty wood; a second coat covers about 50% more ground because it sits on sealed boards. That is why one gallon stretches to roughly 53 feet of picket on the first pass but the recoat goes further.
Questions people ask
How much stain or paint does a fence take?
About one gallon of semi-transparent per 53 linear feet of 6 ft spaced-picket fence, one side, one coat. A solid 100 ft privacy fence, 6 ft tall, one side, is roughly 4 gal + 2 qt for two coats; the same run in spaced pickets drops to about 3 gal + 1 qt because the gaps are not wood. Set the style and sides below and the calculator does the rest.
Do I count both sides of the fence?
Only the sides you are coating. A privacy fence you finish on both faces doubles the area. A fence where the neighbor takes the far side, or a picket you only do on the street side, is a single side. The calculator has a sides toggle so you are not paying for wood you never touch.
How do picket gaps and board-on-board change the number?
Spaced pickets are about 70% of a solid wall of the same length and height, because the gaps between boards are air. Board-on-board (the overlapping style with no gaps front or back) runs about 15% more than solid, since the overlaps and the back edges are extra wood to coat. Solid privacy panels are the baseline.
Stain or paint for a wood fence?
Semi-transparent stain wears best on a fence: it soaks in and fades instead of peeling, and a recoat needs no scraping. Solid stain and exterior paint hide the wood and give one color, but they can peel where water gets behind a board. Either way the coverage math is the same, so this calculator handles both.
Related
Staining the deck in the same weekend? Deck stain calculator. House siding is a different surface and rate: exterior paint calculator. Coverage rates by surface: coverage per gallon.