The best drywall patch
Oh no. There's a hole in the wall. Watcha gonna do?
Praise yourself for being a pack rat and saving those scraps of drywall in the basement. Never mind tape, just bring a scrap, a blade, a knife and some mud.
Please scroll through my picture blog, or my very first plog to see what I have found to be the best patch for a hole in drywall. I included captions, but you don't even have to read them. The images are good for about nine thousand words.
Size your scrap patch an inch or so bigger than the hole.
Flip the scrap and score the extra inch or so around all four sides
Snap and carefully peel away the surrounding excess leaving the center intact...
...until you're left with a wallboard plug.
Dry fit the plug. Clip the corners and trim it down for an easy fit.
Butter up the edges of the plug with a copious amount of fast setting joint compound.
Plug the hole, then scrape out the excess mud from the center out on all four sides.
After the patch sets up, skim it with some fresh mud extending and leveling the compound a few inches beyond the edges.
After it dries, lightly sand and feather the edges of the patch before priming it for paint.
Posted by Mark Powers | Categories: Quick Fixes & Tips | Permalink
(13) Comments
that is awesome! thanks for the great photo lesson.
Wow! That is so neat!! I am going to remember this one! Thanks.
That way is OK but there is still a hump from the paper and while you are peeling the drywall off, you loosen the paper over the part you want to keep. If you take a piece of drywall larger then the hole. Place it over the hole and mark the outline on the wall. Now take a drywall saw and cut along the outline of the drywall at a 45 degree angle to the inside on all 4 sides. You will now have a hole in the wall with a 45 degree bevel on all 4 sides . Take the piece of drywall and cut it on a 45 degree bevel to the back, on all 4 sides. When you place the drywall in the hole, it should just about be flush with the surface. Sand edges and trim paper so it sits about 1/8 below the surface of the wall. Now remove the dust from the edges of the drywall. Butter all 4 edges of the drywall and 4 edges of the hole. Place the piece of drywall into the hole. Push in lightly so that it sits flush or a 32nd below the wall surface and let dry. Fill as required, sand and paint. I use fast set joint compound for my first coat, fill 1/2 - 3/4 hour later, put a fan on it and I can get a drywall repair sanded and 2 coats of paint in a day. If you do as many repairs as I do, you can make up a bunch of patches ahead of time. Just grab the right size one, put the face on the wall, mark, cut, dust, butter, fill. You are done. I have even used round pieces of drywall
Dave- only problem w/ your solution, is the lack of paper or other reinforcement over the 4 seams left between your plug and the balance of the drywall. Over time, those seams are subject to cracking. But if you take your method, and tape over it, you can avoid that. As for any "hump" - no worse than every seam in the drywall where two cut edges or ends of drywall (common on horizontally run panels) meet. Properly feathered, it's virtually undetectable.
Certainly a valid point from mark.
better to use this product (http://www.prest-on.com/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=5 )by prest-on it is a set of clips that hold the sheet rock in place and is structurally sound and a better repair
loius:
Those work, I suppose, I've used similar products. But:
1: Mark's solution can be completed with materials you probably have sitting around if you're the handy type.
2: The kits are 10-25usd. Mark's solution costs pennies worth of supplies. I'm going to remember this one.
better to plaster the fucking wall properly in the first place...!!
better to plaster the fucking wall properly in the first place...!!
hey frank maybe some do-it-your-selfers cant afford to have their walls plastered "properly"
now back to that patch, tape is always a good idea on patches. no one wants to patch the same spot over and over. a good six inch knife is always handy for the final coat. it makes fast and easy work of blending your new patch with the rest of the wall.
and for the rest of us who are happy just to have walls, plaster is awesome if you can afford it. if not don't fret, your not missing anything spectacular.
very sloppily done. I would have cut the existing hole into a square first, then cut a square of dry wall to fit the hole and then taped it. What an amateur.
very sloppily done. I would have cut the existing hole into a square first, then cut a square of dry wall to fit the hole and then taped it. What an amateur.
wow, this it is working amazingly. I need to buy it well done, thanks