Easy Epoxy Calc

How much epoxy for an 8 ft bar top?

Short answer

You need about 1.24 gallons of tabletop epoxy for one 1/8 inch flood coat on an 8 ft × 20 in bar top (13.3 square feet) with the front edge and both ends coated — 14.9 fl oz of that drips off the edges — so 2 kits of 1 gallon, with 0.76 gal left over.

How to work it out

  1. Top: 8 ft × 20 in = 13.3 sq ft; coated edges: 11.3 ft, 1.5 in tall
  2. Flood coat: 13.3 sq ft × 1/8 in × 1 = 1.04 gal + edge film 11.3 ft × 1.5 in × 1/32 in × 1 = 3.53 fl oz → + 5% waste = 1.12 gal
  3. Edge drips: 11.3 ft at 1.25 fl oz per foot of edge per 1/8 in coat × 1 = 14.2 fl oz → + 5% waste = 14.9 fl oz
  4. Total: 1.12 gal + 14.9 fl oz = 1.24 gal → 2 × 1 gal kits
  5. Mix ratio 1 : 1 by volume, SG A 1.15 / B 0.95 (typical, not published by the maker — type your data sheet’s SGs for exact weights) → Part A 0.62 gal (5.93 lb) + Part B 0.62 gal (4.9 lb)

Eight feet is a typical home-bar length, and 20 in of depth leaves room for a drink rail or overhang. Without embedded items it’s a straightforward flood coat; the coated front and ends — 11⅓ ft of edge — add the edge film and the drips on top of the 1.04 gallons the flat top takes.

Adjust for your project

ft
in
Measure the top surface, including any overhang.
The edges the resin runs over. Each one gets a thin coat and drips for a while, so both are counted.
in
How tall the edge is — usually the thickness of the top.
Items buried in a clear fill pour. Solid items take up room, so they reduce the resin a little.
1 is normal. Add one after a fill pour for a single, even surface.
A thin first coat brushed or scraped into bare wood, so air in the grain doesn’t bubble up into the clear coat.
gal
Total of both bottles together. Most “1 gallon kits” are ½ gal resin + ½ gal hardener — enter 1. If the listing says 1 gal of EACH, enter 2.
More options: waste · ratio · SG A …
%
What stays in the bucket and on the spreader. Edge drips are counted separately.
Only changes the Part A / Part B split — it’s printed on the kit. Tabletop and art resins are usually 1:1; deep pour often 2:1.
From the TDS, in g/ml. Leave blank for 1.15 (typical, not published by the maker).
From the TDS, in g/ml. Leave blank for 0.95 on 1:1 kits or 0.97 on other ratios (typical, not published by the maker).
gal
Resin + hardener mixed in one bucket. Big batches heat up and thicken sooner, so pros mix the next one while the last is being poured.
$
Optional — your kit price, for a cost estimate
Tabletop epoxy to buy1.24 gal4.94 qt · 4.68 L
Kits to buy
2 kits
Flood coat(s) + film on the edges, incl. waste
1.12 gal (4.48 qt · 4.24 L)
Edge drips (runs off and is lost), incl. waste
14.9 fl oz (0.46 qt · 0.44 L)
Bar top area
13.3 sq ft
Batches to mix
2 batches
Per batch (volume, then weight)
A 1.24 qt (2.97 lb) + B 1.24 qt (2.45 lb)
When mixing — Part A (resin)
0.62 gal (2.47 qt · 2.34 L)
When mixing — Part B (hardener)
0.62 gal (2.47 qt · 2.34 L)
Part A by weight
5.93 lb (94.9 oz · 2.69 kg)
Part B by weight
4.9 lb (78.4 oz · 2.22 kg)
Left over from the last kit
0.76 gal (3.06 qt · 2.89 L)
  • What to buy: 2 × 1 gal tabletop epoxy kits. Each kit has both bottles (resin + hardener) — you don’t buy them separately. Looking at a different kit size? Change Kit size above.
  • Pouring onto bare wood? Choose a seal coat above — it stops air in the grain bubbling up into the clear coat.

For this job · affiliate link
Tabletop / bar top epoxy kitYou need 1.24 gal; 2 × 1 gal kits leaves 0.76 gal over, so topping up with a smaller kit may be cheaper — compare kit sizes. Bar-top epoxy is a self-leveling coating resin — buy it all at once so every batch matches.
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Epoxy for an 8 ft bar top, by bar depth

Epoxy for an 8 ft bar top, by bar depth
Bar depthBar top areaTabletop epoxy to buyKits to buy
16 in10.7 sq ft1.01 gal2 kits
18 in12 sq ft1.12 gal2 kits
20 in13.3 sq ft1.24 gal2 kits
24 in16 sq ft1.46 gal2 kits
30 in20 sq ft1.8 gal2 kits

What to know about an 8 ft bar top

The number is awkward for kit sizes. At 1.24 gallons you are just past a single 1-gallon kit, so you buy two and have about three-quarters of a gallon spare. Don’t try to stretch one kit by pouring thinner: below about 1/8 in a flood coat stops levelling properly and leaves thin spots. The spare is useful, though — on bare open-grain wood, a brushed seal coat the day before takes about a quarter of a gallon of it (choose the seal coat in the calculator to see the exact figure).

Home bar tops are commonly somewhere around 16–24 in deep, so the depth you measure matters as much as the length: the same 8 ft run at 24 in deep needs about 1.46 gallons. Measure the finished top, including any overhang, and note which edges show. A bar against a wall usually has the front and both ends coated; a freestanding island bar is coated on all four sides.

The edges cost you twice: a thin film stays on each one, and more runs off and drips from the underside for a good while after the pour. On this bar that is about 15 fl oz of drips on 11⅓ ft of edge, more than a tenth of the total. Set the bar up on blocks with plastic below, and run tape along the underside of each coated edge — once the drips harden you peel them off with the tape instead of sanding them. With about 40 minutes of working time at 70°F for a tabletop product like TotalBoat’s, mix and pour the whole coat in one session, starting in the middle and pushing out to the edges.

Planning to embed coins or caps? The fill pour changes the total far more than the length does: compare how much epoxy for a penny bar top and how much epoxy for a bottle cap bar top on this same 8 ft × 20 in bar.

Different size? Use the full Bar Top Epoxy Calculator.

What you’ll need

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Frequently asked questions

How much epoxy for an 8 ft bar top that is 24 inches deep?

About 1.46 gallons for one 1/8 in flood coat with the front and ends coated — still 2 kits of 1 gallon.

How much epoxy for two flood coats on an 8 ft bar top?

About 2.47 gallons for two 1/8 in coats on an 8 ft × 20 in bar, drips included — 3 kits of 1 gallon.

How much epoxy for a 10 ft bar top?

About 1.53 gallons for one 1/8 in flood coat on a 10 ft × 20 in bar with the front and ends coated.

How much epoxy for an 8 ft bar top with a seal coat on oak?

About 1.48 gallons in all — 31 fl oz for an open-grain seal coat over the top and edges, then the flood coat. That is 2 kits of 1 gallon.

Other common sizes

Sources