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About this tool
Compare emulsion and distemper on upfront cost, repaint cycles, lifetime present value and the break-even year.
This comparison prices acrylic emulsion against oil-bound distemper over the whole time you will own the walls, not just on the day of purchase. It costs one repaint as (area x coats / spreading rate) x price per litre plus labour, repeats it every time the repaint cycle comes round inside your horizon, and discounts each future job back to today's money so a cheap paint applied four times can be compared with an expensive one applied twice. Homeowners, landlords and contractors use it to settle the false economy argument with numbers.
Open Emulsion vs Distemper Cost Comparison on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
Counts every repaint inside your horizon, not only the first coat.
Future repaints are discounted, so money spent in year nine is weighted correctly.
Tells you the year emulsion stops being the dearer option on your own numbers.
Emulsion is washable, holds colour longer and typically lasts 5 to 7 years on interior walls, against 2 to 3 years for oil-bound distemper, but costs roughly twice as much per litre. Over a horizon longer than about five to seven years the extra durability usually more than repays the premium; below that, distemper is genuinely cheaper.
Interior distemper is normally refreshed every two to three years because it chalks, marks with handprints and cannot be washed. In low-traffic rooms with little sunlight it can stretch further; in kitchens, stairwells and children's rooms it will look tired sooner.
Per litre, oil-bound distemper commonly costs less than half of an acrylic emulsion, but it also spreads less far — around 90 to 110 square feet per litre per coat against 130 to 150 for emulsion — so the gap on the wall is narrower than the gap on the tin. Labour is usually lower too because less surface preparation is expected.
Use the return you would otherwise get on the money — a fixed-deposit rate of around 6 to 7 percent is a reasonable civilian benchmark. Setting it to zero simply totals the rupees spent, which overstates the cost of the option that spends later.
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