Repaint your home before Diwali: paint, putty, primer and the days it takes
Diwali falls on Sunday, 8 November 2026. Work out the litres from the paint's own datasheet, book the painter for the right dates, and every room is dry before the diyas come out.
By Bulan Sarkar · Updated
A 2BHK of about 750 sq ft has roughly 2,625 sq ft of walls and ceilings (floor area × 3.5). An interior emulsion such as Asian Paints Tractor covers 130 to 150 sq ft per litre over two coats, according to its datasheet, so you need about 18 to 20 litres. Add 10% and buy a 20 L and a 4 L pack. Putty goes only on damaged patches, and primer goes on the patches and on walls changing from a dark colour to a light one. Allow about three working days for each batch of rooms, because each coat needs about 4 hours before the next. To finish by 1 November, start by 21 October, the day after Dussehra.
Source: Asian Paints Tractor Emulsion technical data sheet (India): coverage 250 to 270 sq ft/L one coat and 130 to 150 two coats, application steps, 4 h recoat, 28 days curing for new plaster, thinned paint used within 24 hours, checked Oct 2026.
The decision: repaint yourself, or with your usual painter, this month?
Yes, if the walls are sound and dry, the paint is only dull or marked, and you are keeping a similar colour. This page covers that whole job, from measuring to the last touch-up.
Skip the full repaint if only one or two walls look tired. Repaint those walls from corner to corner (a patch in the middle of a wall shows) and leave the rest for next year.
Get help first for damp patches, paint peeling off in sheets, white salt deposits that keep coming back, or cracks wider than a fingernail. Those come from water or the structure, and paint will not fix them, so have a contractor or engineer find the cause. Also wait if the plaster is new: Asian Paints asks for 28 days of curing, and IS 2395 says to leave new cement plaster unpainted for as long as possible.
The steps, in order
Fix the dates and work backwards from Diwali
Have ready:a calendaryour painter's phone number
Diwali is on Sunday, 8 November. Keep the last week for cleaning and putting furniture back, so the painting ends by 1 November. A 2BHK done in two batches of rooms takes about six working days, so starting on 21 October, the day after Dussehra (20 October), leaves a few spare days. Painters get booked up in late October, so fix the dates now and get them in writing.
Measure each room
Have ready:a measuring tapethe room sheet from this page
Either measure each wall (length × height, minus doors and windows) or take the floor area × 3.5 for walls plus ceiling. A 12 × 10 ft bedroom has a 120 sq ft floor, so about 420 sq ft to paint. Give each room its own line on the sheet.
Walk the walls and mark the repairs
Have ready:a pencila torchmasking tape to flag spots
At night, hold a torch flat against the wall so dents, cracks and old drips throw a shadow. Circle each one. Flag damp or salty patches separately, because they go to the "get help" list and not to the painter. Then estimate the patched area as a share of each room; write 10% if you are unsure and adjust after the walk.
Read the coverage off the paint's datasheet
Have ready:the product name, or a photo of the tin's label
Datasheets print two lines, and mixing them up is the usual reason people buy double. Tractor Emulsion: 250 to 270 sq ft per litre for one coat, 130 to 150 over two coats. Royale Luxury: 270 to 310 for one coat, 140 to 160 over two. Berger Bison: 130 to 150 over two coats. Two coats is the normal repaint; Berger's sheet says two for the same colour and three for fresh painting.
Work out the paint, putty and primer
Have ready:the room totals from step 2the patch share from step 3
Paint: total area ÷ the low end of the two-coat figure, plus 10% (or enter the one-coat figure and 2 coats in the paint calculator). Putty: patched area ÷ 38 sq ft per kg for one coat, or ÷ 24 for two coats (Asian Paints Acrylic Wall Putty prints 38 to 44 and 24 to 35). Primer: patched area plus any wall going from dark to light, ÷ 215 sq ft per litre (Decoprime water-thinnable primer: 215 to 270 for one coat).
Buy in pack sizes, from one batch
Have ready:the shade codethe litres, kg and pack sizes
Paint comes in 1, 4, 10 and 20 L packs and putty in 1, 5, 10, 20 and 35 kg. Large packs cost far less per litre: Tractor's MRP is ₹4,180 for 20 L (₹209 a litre) against ₹258 for 1 L, and dealers usually sell below MRP. Ask for the same batch number on every tin of one shade, and check it before you leave the shop.
Empty, cover and sand the room
Have ready:plastic sheetmasking tape180-grit sandpaper
Move the furniture to the middle and cover it. Tape over switchboards and sockets without opening them. Sand the old paint lightly with 180-grit paper, which is the first step in the Tractor datasheet, and wipe the dust off. Run a palm over the wall: if dust comes away, wipe again.
Putty and spot-prime the patches (day 1)
Have ready:acrylic wall puttya putty knifewater-thinnable primer
Fill the marked spots with putty. A second coat can go on after 4 to 6 hours. Sand it smooth once dry, then prime the patched areas. The datasheet order is sand, primer, putty, sand, primer, sand, then the paint, and the primer needs 4 to 6 hours before the next step. Run a palm over each patch; you should not feel an edge.
Two coats of paint (days 2 and 3)
Have ready:the paint, thinned as the datasheet saysrollers and a tray
Thin the paint as the datasheet says: 40 to 45% water for brush or roller on Tractor and Royale. Mix only what you will use that day, because thinned paint is good for 24 hours. Leave about 4 hours between coats (3 to 4 for Royale) at 25 °C, longer when it is cold or humid, and do not paint below 10 °C. Paint the ceiling first, then each wall from corner to corner.
Inspect, touch up and record
Have ready:the room sheetthe leftover tins
Walk the rooms in daylight and touch up from the same batch. Write the product, shade code, batch number and date on the room sheet, and keep a labelled litre of leftover paint for next year's marks. Then move to the next batch of rooms.
What goes wrong
Variants: what changes the steps
Same colour, sound walls
Most homes. Sand, putty and prime the patches, then two coats. This is the three-day batch above.
Dark to light, or a new colour scheme
Prime the whole wall first, then two coats. Berger's sheet calls for three coats on a fresh surface, so budget a third coat when you are covering a very dark old colour.
New plaster in an extension or a replastered room
Wait at least 28 days (Asian Paints), and longer if you can: IS 2395 says new cement plaster should stay unpainted as long as possible and new brickwork for at least three months. If that room cannot wait, leave it for after the festival.
Rented flat
Ask the owner first, keep to the same colour, and photograph every wall before and after for the deposit.
Tips and tricks
- Check walls at night with a torch held flat against the surface. Dents and old drips show up far better than in daylight.
- Photograph each tin's label on the day you buy it: shade code, batch number and the coverage line. Next year's touch-up then matches.
- Pull the masking tape off while the last coat is still slightly soft. Once the paint hardens, the tape can lift it.
- Thin only the paint you will use that day. Thinned emulsion is good for 24 hours, and the rest goes to waste.
- Paint the ceiling before the walls, so any drips land on surfaces that are still to be painted.
What we would do
For a 2BHK last painted four or five years ago, staying in the same colour, we would book the painter this week for 21 October, measure the rooms tonight on the sheet below, and buy a 20 L and a 4 L pack of one batch, a 10 kg bag of acrylic putty (one coat on about 380 sq ft of patches) and a 4 L can of water-thinnable primer (about 860 sq ft for one coat). We would do the bedrooms first and the living room and kitchen second. Any damp wall stays out of this year's job and gets looked at after the festival, since paint on a damp wall has to be redone once the cause is fixed.
Print the working copy
Repaint room sheet: rooms, litres and days, from the Repaint Planner. One A4 page with tick boxes and blanks; it prints in black and white.
- The job
- Rooms
- Packs to buy
- Each batch of rooms
- Leave out of this job
Frequently asked questions
How many litres of paint do I need for a 2BHK?
Is 130 sq ft per litre for one coat or two?
Do I need putty and primer for a repaint?
How long should I wait between coats?
How long after new plaster can I paint?
The source we built this on
Also checked on 7 Oct 2026: Asian Paints Royale Luxury, Decoprime water-thinnable primer and Acrylic Wall Putty sheets; the Tractor product page (pack MRPs); the Berger Bison data sheet; IS 2395 (Part 1):1994 cl. 5.2.2, 7.2, 7.4 and Annex C-3.1; and the central government holiday list for 2026 (Dussehra 20 Oct, Diwali 8 Nov). Prices are maker's MRPs on that date.
Use a stable step-ladder, keep the windows open while painting and drying, and keep children and pets out of the rooms in use. Tape over switches and sockets; do not open the switchboard. Damp, cracks and seepage go to a contractor or a licensed engineer.