Worked example — 100 ft × 6 ft, both faces, 2 coats, 200 ft²/gal, 10% waste
One face is 600 ft², both faces 1,200 ft². Two coats plus 10% waste is 2,640 ft² of film, which purchases as 14 gallons at 200 ft²/gal. A recoat at 300 ft²/gal is a different ticket — change coverage, do not scale 14.
Faces and coverage stay honest
Measure the run and the finished height. One face is a neighbour-side skip. Two faces is both sides of a privacy fence. Coverage is the number on the selected stain — 200 ft² per gallon is a planning default for a first coat on rough cedar, not a semi-transparent recoat.
Posts, rails and picket edges drink extra. Keep waste as its own percentage rather than lengthening the run.
This is not a picket count
Boards, posts, rails and post-hole bags live on the wood-fence calculator. Stain is a coating takeoff. Exterior house paint is a different product and a different page. In the GCC, switch to metric area rather than converting a gallon coverage in your head.
Do it in order
- Enter run length, height and whether you stain one face or two.
- Type coats and the coverage printed on the selected stain.
- Apply waste, round up to whole gallons, and keep pickets on the fence calculator.
Planning boundary
This estimates gallons. It does not specify prep, mill-glaze removal, lead-safe work or a live stain price.
Sources
This guide is original worked arithmetic for the calculator linked above. It does not cite a laboratory test or a supplier price. The method, the internal check and the planning limit are on How we calculate.
One coat on a weathered fence?
Rough, dry cedar often drinks two. Enter the coats you will actually brush or spray.
Does this count pickets?
No. Open the wood-fence calculator for boards, posts and rails.
Is oil and water-based the same math?
The area math is the same. Coverage on the can is not. Replace the default.