To find how much paint a house in Nepal needs, measure the net area of each surface in square metres, then divide by the coverage printed on the product for the number of coats you will apply. For the two-storey, 175 m² house used in our brick and plaster examples, that comes to about 51 litres of interior emulsion, 42 litres of interior primer and 230 kg of wall putty for 510 m² of inside walls and ceilings, plus about 61 litres of exterior emulsion and 31 litres of exterior primer for 313 m² of outside walls. The rest of this guide shows how to get those numbers for your own house, which coverage figures to use, and the mistakes that make owners buy twice as much paint as they need.
What you are actually buying
A normal paint job on new cement plaster in Nepal has four layers. Each one has its own coverage, so each one is worked out separately.
- Wall putty (inside only): two thin coats to fill pores and fine cracks, sold in kg bags.
- Primer: one coat that seals the plaster so the finish coat does not soak in. Interior and exterior primers are different products.
- Finish coat: usually two coats of emulsion. Interior emulsion inside, weather-proof exterior emulsion outside.
- Enamel for wooden or steel doors, windows and grills, measured separately.
Exterior walls usually get primer and two coats of exterior emulsion with no putty. The Asian Paints exterior system sheet, for example, goes straight from surface preparation to primer and then two finish coats.
Coverage figures to use
Coverage is the area one litre (or one kg) covers. Paint makers print it on the tin and in the product information sheet, usually as a range for a smooth, primed surface applied by brush. The lower end of the range suits new, slightly rough plaster; the upper end suits a smooth wall that has been painted before. These are the figures from Asian Paints sheets, a brand widely sold in Nepal. Other brands publish similar ranges, so read the sheet for whatever you buy.
| Product (example) | Coverage in the maker's sheet | In m² | Used here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interior emulsion (Tractor Emulsion, Nepal sheet) | 18 to 22 m²/L one coat; 10 to 12 m²/L two coats | 10 to 12 m²/L for 2 coats | 10 m²/L |
| Premium interior emulsion (Apcolite Premium) | 130 to 150 sq ft/L two coats | 12.1 to 13.9 m²/L | 12 m²/L |
| Exterior emulsion (Apex) | 100 to 130 sq ft/L one coat; 55 to 60 sq ft/L two coats | 5.1 to 5.6 m²/L for 2 coats | 5.1 m²/L |
| Interior wall primer | 130 to 160 sq ft/L | 12.1 to 14.9 m²/L | 12 m²/L |
| Exterior wall primer | 10 to 12 m²/L (Trucare); 100 to 120 sq ft/L (Professional) | 9.3 to 12 m²/L | 10 m²/L |
| Acrylic wall putty | 38 to 44 sq ft/kg one coat; 24 to 35 sq ft/kg two coats | 2.23 to 3.25 m²/kg for 2 coats | 2.23 m²/kg |
Two things stand out. First, a "two coats" coverage figure already includes both coats, so do not divide by it and then double the result. Second, exterior emulsion covers roughly half the area of interior emulsion per litre, because it is a thicker film made to resist rain and sun. Using an interior figure outside, or the other way round, is the most common reason for a wrong paint order.
Step-by-step method
- List the surfaces by finish. Inside walls, ceilings, outside walls and parapets, and woodwork or steel. Each list gets its own product and coverage.
- Measure the net area in m². Wall length times height, minus openings. IS 1200 Part 13, the Indian method of measurement for painting building surfaces that most Nepali estimates follow, uses the same opening rules as plaster: no deduction for openings up to 0.5 m² each; for openings from 0.5 to 3 m², deduct from one face only if both faces get the same finish (50% from each face if reveals are equal); for openings over 3 m², deduct the opening and add the jambs, soffit and sill. So if you already have a plaster estimate, the painted area is the same number.
- Add uneven surfaces. IS 1200 Part 13 increases the area of rough finishes: sand-face plaster by 50%, rough cast by 100%, sponge finish by 25%, and pointed brickwork by 20%.
- Divide by the coverage for the system. Putty in kg, primer and emulsion in litres.
- Round up to pack sizes. Emulsion and primer come in 1, 4, 10 and 20 litre packs; putty in bags. Keep one tin of each colour unopened for touch-ups after the electrician and plumber finish.
Example 1: one bedroom
Take the bedroom from our plaster quantity post: inside size 3.27 x 3.77 m, clear height 2.875 m, one door 0.9 x 2.1 m, one window 1.5 x 1.2 m and a small ventilator. After the IS 1200 deductions the walls measure 38.63 m², and the ceiling is 3.27 x 3.77 = 12.33 m². Total 50.96 m².
| Item | Working | Quantity | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall putty, 2 coats | 50.96 / 2.23 | 22.9 kg | one 20 kg bag plus a small pack |
| Interior primer | 50.96 / 12 | 4.25 L | 4 L + 1 L |
| Interior emulsion, 2 coats | 50.96 / 10 | 5.10 L | 4 L + 2 x 1 L |
If the ceiling will be white and the walls a colour, split the emulsion: ceiling 12.33 / 10 = 1.2 L of white, walls 38.63 / 10 = 3.9 L of colour. One 4 L tin of the wall colour is then enough, with only a little left over.
Example 2: a two-storey house
This is the same 12-column, two-storey RC frame house used in our brick wall quantity and plaster posts, about 175 m² of built-up area. The plaster post measured the areas below with the IS 1200 deduction rules, and painting uses the same rules, so the figures carry over directly.
| Surface | Area (m²) | Putty (kg) | Primer (L) | Emulsion (L) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inside walls, both floors | 355.62 | 159.5 | 29.6 | 35.6 |
| Ceilings, both floors | 154.32 | 69.2 | 12.9 | 15.4 |
| Interior total | 509.94 | 228.7 | 42.5 | 51.0 |
| Outside walls and parapet | 313.40 | none | 31.3 | 61.5 |
Rounded to packs, the order is roughly:
- Interior emulsion 51 L: two 20 L, one 10 L and one 1 L (more if you choose several colours, since each colour is rounded up on its own).
- Interior primer 42.5 L: two 20 L and one 4 L.
- Wall putty 229 kg: about 230 kg, or twelve 20 kg bags.
- Exterior primer 31.3 L: one 20 L, one 10 L and two 1 L.
- Exterior emulsion 61.5 L: three 20 L and two 1 L.
Per square metre of built-up area that is about 0.29 L of interior emulsion, 0.35 L of exterior emulsion and 1.3 kg of putty. Those ratios are handy for checking a contractor's material list, but only for a house with a similar plan; a house with more rooms has more wall per m² of floor.
What the municipal rates say about cost
Many municipalities publish a rate analysis each fiscal year. The Suryabinayak Municipality rate analysis 2081/82 gives these rates per m², including the 15% contractor overhead:
| Item in the rate analysis | Rate (Rs/m²) | Area (m²) | Amount (Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 mm thick wall and ceiling white putty work | 295.61 | 509.94 | 1,50,743 |
| Emulsion painting (interior), two coat | 279.78 | 509.94 | 1,42,671 |
| Weather painting, two coat | 299.65 | 313.40 | 93,910 |
| Total | 3,87,325 |
That is about Rs 2,200 per m² of built-up area for wall and ceiling painting. The same sheet lists "Readymade enamel painting two coat with primer" at Rs 389.65 per m² for woodwork and steel. Rates change every year and differ between municipalities, and the sheet does not break out primer as a separate line, so check your own municipality's current rate analysis and ask contractors whether their quote includes primer.
Doors, windows and grills
Enamel on joinery is measured by the flat area of the shutter on each side, multiplied by a factor that allows for panels, glass or bars. IS 1200 Part 15 gives these factors, among others:
| Item | Factor |
|---|---|
| Panelled or framed and braced doors, measured flat | 1.30 each side |
| Flush shutters, measured flat overall | 1.20 each side |
| Fully glazed or gauzed wooden joinery | 0.80 each side |
| Partly panelled, partly glazed joinery | 1.00 each side |
| Fully glazed steel doors and windows | 0.50 each side |
| Grills, railings, gratings | 1.00 all over |
| Collapsible gate | 1.50 all over |
| Steel roller shutter | 1.10 each side |
For the example house: two panelled main doors of 1.0 x 2.1 m give 4.2 x 2 sides x 1.30 = 10.92 m², and ten flush doors of 0.9 x 2.1 m plus four of 0.75 x 2.1 m give 25.2 x 2 x 1.20 = 60.48 m². Total 71.4 m² of enamel work, about Rs 27,821 at the Suryabinayak rate above. Window grills are added at their overall size on one side only, since the factor is "all over".
Common mistakes seen on Nepali sites
- Painting before the plaster has cured. The Asian Paints exterior sheet asks for 28 days of curing for new masonry. Paint on green plaster blisters and the salts in the cement bloom through it, and then the whole wall is repainted.
- Using a single coverage figure for everything. Interior emulsion at 10 to 12 m²/L for two coats and exterior emulsion at about 5.1 to 5.6 m²/L are very different numbers. One figure for the whole house over-orders inside or under-orders outside.
- Doubling a two-coat figure. If the sheet says "2 coats: 10 to 12 m²/L", 100 m² needs about 10 L in total, not 20 L.
- Thinning the paint more than the label says. Painters sometimes add extra water to "stretch" a tin. The film becomes thin, the colour patches, and a third coat is needed, which costs more than the paint saved.
- Putty on outside walls. Ordinary interior putty is not made for rain. Repair outside cracks with the products named for exterior use and go straight to exterior primer.
- Ignoring damp walls. Paint on a wall with rising damp or a leaking bathroom behind it peels within a season. Fix the leak and treat damp patches first.
- No touch-up stock. Colours are tinted at the shop and the next batch rarely matches exactly. Keep one sealed litre of each colour, labelled with the shade code.
Using the free calculator
Our paint calculator does the room arithmetic for you, including door and window deductions. Its default coverage of 110 sq ft per litre per coat (about 10.2 m²) matches exterior emulsion. For interior emulsion, set the coverage per coat to about 190 to 200 sq ft per litre (the 18 to 22 m²/L one-coat range in the Nepal sheet for Tractor Emulsion), or the tool will give roughly twice the paint you need. For the walls themselves, the plaster calculator gives the same areas you will later paint.
Frequently asked questions
How many litres of paint for a 1,000 sq ft house?
For a single-storey house of about 1,000 sq ft (93 m²) built-up area, use the ratio from the example house as a first guess: inside walls and ceilings there came to 2.9 times the built-up area, so about 270 m². At 10 m²/L for two coats that is about 27 L of interior emulsion. A house with more, smaller rooms will need more. The outside walls depend on height and perimeter; measure them rather than guess.
Is primer really needed?
Yes on new plaster. The exterior sheet calls primer mandatory, and on interior walls primer evens out the suction of the plaster so the emulsion covers at its rated figure. Repainting a sound, clean wall in a similar colour can often skip it.
Distemper or emulsion?
Distemper is cheaper and fine for store rooms and rented flats, but it does not take washing well. The Suryabinayak sheet lists washable distemper, two coats with primer, at Rs 142.43 per m², about half the interior emulsion rate.
How long between coats?
The Asian Paints sheets give 4 to 6 hours between coats of exterior emulsion and 4 to 8 hours for interior emulsion at about 28 to 30 degrees C. In a Kathmandu winter, allow longer, and do not paint below 10 degrees C.
What about labour?
The municipal rates above include labour, materials and overhead. If you buy the paint yourself, ask painters for a labour-only rate per m² or per sq ft and agree in writing which layers (putty, primer, coats) are included.
Sources and related guides
- Coverage: Asian Paints Nepal, Tractor Emulsion product sheet and Apex exterior emulsion sheet.
- Measurement rules: IS 1200 Part 13, whitewashing, colour washing, distempering and painting of building surfaces.
- Rates: Suryabinayak Municipality rate analysis 2081/82 (linked above).
- On this site: plaster quantity for a whole house, brick wall quantity, standard door and window sizes, house construction cost estimator, all free engineering tools and estimation MCQ practice.
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