Deck Stain Cost Calculator

Working out the gallons is only half of a deck staining estimate, and this page does the other half, which is the money. Give it the area to cover or a gallon figure you already have, your prices for a quart, a gallon can and a five gallon pail, and it finds the cheapest combination of containers, adds cleaner and brightener at 300 square feet to the gallon, adds your sundries and any equipment hire, and reports the total, the cost per square foot and the cost per year over the interval before it needs doing again. Enter a contractor rate and it shows what doing the job yourself pays per hour, with the value of your time kept out of the cash total on purpose. A second action solves the container problem on its own, because with three sizes on the shelf the cheapest basket is rarely the obvious one.

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Units and Tin Sizes

Start from the area to be covered, including the railing and stairs. Pick the unit and the tin sizes you are actually buying, and enter 0 for any line you are not paying for.

Square feet, or square metres in metric. Floor plus railing plus stairs. The railing alone can be as much surface as the floor, so work it out properly rather than guessing.
Gallons. Leave at 0 to work it out from the area and coverage below. Fill it in if you already have the figure.
Square feet per gallon. Left blank you get 250, the planed or previously sealed board figure.
Square feet per gallon. The second coat goes further, because the first has already filled the wood. Left blank you get 350.
The smallest size on your shelf. Leave at 0 if you do not want it in the answer.
The middle size. This is the one figure the page cannot do without.
The largest size. Leave at 0 if your stain does not come in it, or you do not want one.
Washing, drying time aside, taping, two coats and cleaning up. Leave at 0 to skip the lines about your time.
Leave at 0 to skip the comparison. Deck staining is commonly quoted at $2 to $4 a square foot, which is $22 to $43 a square metre, including materials.
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Units and Tin Sizes

Three container sizes and one quantity. The answer is often not the obvious one.

The smallest size. Leave at 0 if it is not stocked in your colour.
The middle size.
The largest size. Leave at 0 if there is none.
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Deck Calculator Deck Cost Calculator Deck Stain Calculator