Advanced options
Rough-sawn fence timber drinks paint at about 6 m2 per litre (planed wood covers nearer 10). Paint dry timber in mild, dry weather; a sprayer covers panels several times faster than a brush but needs masking of everything downwind. Water-based fence treatments are the modern default.
What The Fence Paint Calculator Works Out
- Area to cover: panels x 1.8 m x 1.8 m, doubled if both sides are painted. Ten standard panels painted one side is 32.4 m2.
- Paint needed: the area multiplied by coats and divided by 6 m2 per litre, the rate rough-sawn timber absorbs treatment at (planed wood manages nearer 10). Two coats on ten panels is about 11 litres, so three 5 litre tins. Two thin coats outlast one thick one.
- Posts and extras: about 0.15 litres per panel for the posts and gravel boards, plus a 10% contingency for old thirsty fences, because running out five panels from the end guarantees a shade mismatch from a different batch.
- Panel size (advanced): 1.8 m x 1.8 m (6 ft x 6 ft) is standard, but 1.2 m and 1.5 m high panels and 0.9 m trellis tops are common; enter the real size and the area follows.
- Coverage (advanced): the figure from your tin. Water-based fence treatments quote 5 to 8 m2 per litre on rough-sawn timber; planed or previously painted timber covers 10 to 12 m2; thick one-coat products less.
- Application and condition (advanced): a sprayer covers panels several times faster than a brush but loses about 20% to overspray and needs a breeze-free morning; old sun-dried or bare weathered timber drinks 10% to 20% more on the first coat.
- Tins and cost (advanced): the total rounded up to whole tins of your chosen size at your price. A 5 litre tin of water-based fence treatment typically costs GBP 12 to GBP 25, so ten panels with two coats costs around GBP 50 to GBP 75 in paint.
- Time estimate (advanced): about 15 minutes per panel side per coat by brush or 3 minutes with a sprayer, before masking and the drying time between coats. Dry timber wants two dry days before and rain-free hours after; the first coat on new pressure-treated timber waits a few months for it to weather.
- Options table (advanced): paint, tins and cost for one or two coats on one or both sides, so the neighbour's side of the boundary question has a price attached. Modern water-based treatments keep their colour 3 to 5 years.