Barn paint calculator
A small horse barn (24 × 36 ft, two stories) has ~3,500 sq ft of exterior wall area and a ~900 sq ft roof. Real barns are usually painted with exterior acrylic, not specialty barn paint — coverage runs 300–350 sq ft/gal on rough siding. Plan for two coats and a primer on bare wood.
Estimates round up to the nearest quart and are based on Kompozit's published coverage. Buy slightly more for touch-ups and color changes.
"Barn red" is a chemistry, not just a color
Traditional barn red is a low-cost mixture of linseed oil and iron oxide (rust) — cheap because farmers had it on hand. Modern barn-red acrylics replicate the color but use synthetic pigments and a real binder. Either works.
Spray for the long walls, brush the trim
A 36-foot wall by brush is a weekend; by sprayer it's an hour. Rent an airless for the field and brush the trim and edges. Two-coat coverage on rough siding is about 7 gallons per 1,000 sq ft.