Exterior Emulsion: how to use it, and how much you need

Exterior masonry, plaster and concrete — boundary walls, facades and parapets. Not for interior wood or metal, which need their own systems.

What you can do with it, and how much it takes

Painting an exterior wall

55-65 sq ft per litre per coat, two coats on exterior masonry

Source: Asian Paints product literature

How to use it

Clean the wall and let it dry, fill cracks, then one coat of exterior primer. Two thin coats of emulsion follow, four to six hours apart. Do not paint in direct afternoon heat or within a day of rain.

Tools you'll need

Roller and tray setask us to source it
2 inch cutting brushask us to source it
Painter tapeask us to source it

Related material

Exterior primerask us to source it
Wall puttyask us to source it
Sandpaper 80-gritask us to source it

Safety

Safety glovesask us to source it
Dust maskask us to source it
Safety gogglesask us to source it

Common mistakes

Skipping primer on fresh plaster, so the paint lifts within a season
One thick coat instead of two thin ones — it looks fine wet and patchy dry
Painting a damp wall after rain, which traps moisture and blisters
Thinning more than the tin allows, which quietly destroys coverage

Buying tips

Check the batch date — emulsion older than about a year in store can seed badly
Buy one extra tin over the estimate rather than risk a second batch with a slightly different shade
Match the primer to the paint system; a cheap primer undoes an expensive topcoat