Ready Seal Coverage Calculator - How Much Stain Do You Need?
Ready Seal Coverage Calculator
Enter your deck or fence size, tell it what shape the wood is in, and this calculator gives you the gallons to order, the cheapest pail-and-can mix, and every line of the arithmetic it used to get there. No email required.
It is built for Ready Seal deck stain, which we stock in eight colors plus clear at our Gaithersburg showroom.
The calculator itself goes here. In Customize, add a Custom Liquid section at this point in the page and paste: {% render 'rs-coverage-calculator', show_banner: true %} then delete this paragraph.
How the numbers work
Most stain calculators quote you the number off the back of the can and leave it at that. That number assumes ideal wood. Real decks are not ideal.
Ready Seal publishes 125 to 175 square feet per gallon. Independent field testing on weathered pressure-treated pine has come in closer to 75 to 100. Both are honest numbers for different wood. Which one applies to you depends almost entirely on how thirsty your boards are.
| Wood condition | Rate used |
|---|---|
| Maintenance coat over existing Ready Seal | 175 sq ft per gallon |
| New or smooth, dried down | 150 sq ft per gallon |
| Weathered gray, staining for the first time | 100 sq ft per gallon |
| Heavily weathered or rough sawn | 80 sq ft per gallon |
Species adjusts it further. Cedar drinks more than treated pine. Ipe and other dense hardwoods take a fraction of what softwood does. The calculator applies that multiplier for you.
We sit on the conservative side of every range on purpose. Ordering one gallon too many costs a few dollars. Running short at 4pm on a Saturday costs a return trip, and if you are a contractor, it costs the crew's afternoon.
What it accounts for that a tape measure will not
- Railings, spindles and steps. A deck floor is only part of the job. Railings and steps typically add about 30 percent to the surface area, and skirting pushes it to 50.
- Fence sides. Both sides is double the area, and the calculator does not let you forget it.
- Second coats. A second pass takes roughly 60 percent of what the first one did, not another full round. Doubling your first-coat number over-orders every time.
- Pail versus cans. Past five gallons a pail is the better buy, so the result splits your order the cheapest way.
Before you order
The calculator assumes the wood is ready for stain. Ready Seal needs bare, dry wood at 12 percent moisture content or less. Sprinkle water on the surface: if it beads up, the wood needs more drying time. If it soaks in within about 30 seconds, you are good to go. On a job you are being paid for, do not guess. A wood moisture meter settles it in a second.
New pressure-treated lumber usually needs 30 days or more before it will accept stain, and longer if it was still wet when it was installed. If there is an old film-forming stain or sealer on the boards, that has to be stripped and the wood brightened first.
Full detail on prep, application and recoating is on the Ready Seal product page.
Everything you need for the job
Once you know your gallons, the rest of the job list is short:
- Deck and wood cleaners for prep
- Wood moisture meter to confirm the boards are dry
- Sprayers, or a roller and brush, for application
- Deck and fence cleaning supplies for the full kit
Buy Ready Seal in Gaithersburg, Maryland
Ready Seal deck stain and sealer is on the shelf at Sun Brite Supply of Maryland, 16620 Oakmont Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877. Pick up today or have it shipped. Contractor and pallet pricing is available, call (301) 519-9274 and tell us the size of the job.
Contractors: if your real-world coverage comes in different from what this calculator says, tell us. We would rather tune the numbers than defend them.