SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
The combined length of all lines to be painted.
For a parking lot, count the painted LINES rather than the stalls: adjacent stalls share the line between them, so a row of 20 stalls has 21 lines, not 40. Multiply one more than the stalls in a row by the stall depth, add the rows together, then add any perimeter, aisle or directional markings. Counting two lines per stall — the obvious way, and what this help used to suggest — very nearly doubles the paint on a long row.
Striping paint needed
3 gallons
Coverage assumes a standard 4 in wide line at typical thickness — wider lines, stenciled symbols, or a second coat use more paint per linear ft.
- Total line length
- 655 linear ft
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Line Striping Paint Calculator: 3 gallons — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- A standard 4 in wide traffic paint line covers approximately 300 linear ft per gallon, a widely cited coverage rate for line-striping paint
Inputs used
- Total Line Length
- 655 ft
Intermediate steps
- Total line length
- 655 linear ft
Confidence note: Coverage assumes a standard 4 in wide line at typical thickness — wider lines, stenciled symbols, or a second coat use more paint per linear ft.
What this calculation does not cover
- A CAR PARK IS NOT A LENGTH OF LINE. The figure a striping job is quoted on is bays, arrows, hatching, disabled bay symbols and the words painted at the entrance, and each is an area rather than a run — so a total linear footage understates a real layout by a wide margin.
- The default coverage rate assumes a sprayed 100 mm (4 in) line on sound asphalt. A wider line scales it directly; a porous, weathered or unsealed surface can halve it; and a brush or roller application uses more again.
- First marking and re-marking are different quantities. Paint over an existing line covers far more readily than paint on bare asphalt, so a repaint on the same layout is not the same order.
- Coverage is a single fixed figure of 300 linear ft per gallon (24 m per litre) applied to every job, and there is no field for the surface being painted, so a bare aged asphalt lot that soaks up the first pass and a freshly sealcoated one that holds the paint on top are quoted exactly the same.
- The take-off stays entirely with you, because the arithmetic reads one number and one only: a stripe left out of your tally, the line shared between two adjacent stalls measured twice, or a curbed island paced out as straight run all reach the gallon figure unchallenged.
- Rounding up to the next whole gallon is the only padding in the answer, so nothing is set aside for the paint sitting in the hose, pump and tank of an airless striper, for the waste at the start and stop of each pass, or for going back over a stripe that wandered.
- What comes back is a count of whole gallons rather than a count of containers, and the one breakdown line simply restates your footage, so nothing on the page reveals whether that final gallon is nearly spent or barely opened when you choose between 1 gallon cans and 5 gallon pails.
- Line length is capped at 5,000 m, roughly 16,400 linear ft, so a larger lot or a road contract has to be entered as separate runs, and each run is rounded up to its own whole gallon rather than sharing the leftovers with the others.
Estimated cost — your price
This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-05 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.1
Regulatory standards & verification citations1
- A standard 4 in wide traffic paint line covers approximately 300 linear ft per gallon, a widely cited coverage rate for line-striping paint
Cite this page
Your workspace
Most jobs need more than one number. Add the calculators you need next and they open right here, underneath this one — your figures stay on screen and nothing is lost to a page change.
Protection this work requires
- Stop and check first. Paint under later coats in older housing can be lead-based, and sanding or heat-stripping it produces lead dust that is especially harmful to children and to anyone pregnant. Test before you disturb it — this is a job for a tested, controlled method, not a better mask.
Tools and safety for this job
To roll and cut in two coats and prepare a surface for paint. Generic types, no brands, no prices.
- Joint-compound dust is very fine and travels: a P1/FFP1 mask is the minimum, and a damp-sponge finish avoids most of it.
- A dust mask does nothing about solvent vapour: ventilate through, and use an organic-vapour (A1) cartridge respirator in an enclosed room.
- Most fatal falls on small jobs are from under three metres: use a tower or a ladder tied at the top, and never work off the top two rungs.
Show the 11 tools this job needsHide tools
Essential
Brushes
Dust sheets and masking
Filling knife
Roller frame, sleeves and tray
Scraper
Recommended
Caulking gun
Extension pole
Pole sander
Random orbital sander
Step ladder
Optional
Dust extractor or vacuum with a fine filter
Also needed as materials: abrasive discs, caulk and sealant cartridges, masking tape, plastic sheeting, roller sleeves, sanding screens or paper.
what each painting tool is for, and the spec that decides which to buy where one does.