We all get small scuffs and holes in the drywall. Moving furniture, door handles hitting the wall or kids playing WWE (add a broken hand to the drywall damage please).
Some of us are on a budget while others enjoy getting their hands dirty, whatever the reason is you should read this article and learn a trick or two you might be able to apply at your home and for the low price of free labor.
It’s not a bad thing to know how to fix minor drywall damage. If you’re not going to do it yourself, at the very least know the process and what to expect.
Now, there are many ways to fix drywall, most are right and the outcome should be the same in all cases, so if what you read here is not what you saw on a YouTube video or your best friends fathers second cousin from his moms side did something totally different, as long as the outcome of the patch is no different than the rest of the wall, you got it good deal! Assuming they didn’t charge you.
First off we start with the hole. Here is a smaller one, this can be typical of a door knob, angry wife or kids hitting a home run in the living room.
We decided not to cut out the drywall but to cover with mesh tape (your going to need mesh tape!).
Here is the product that we normally use. It is sticky on one side, simply cover the hole and cut.
You have a second option of cutting out the drywall to a square shape and put in a new piece.
Drywall Square
Once you have tape over the hole its time to apply the drywall mud. You can use a premix compound sold at the store, with no need to mix water or powder.
Are you ready for your first coat?
With a drywall tool called a trowel or knife you apply a thin coat covering the hole. Don’t be scared to cover all sides of the hole by a few inches.
The key is to apply a thin layer of mud. We normally use hot mud or 5 minute mud. This is a powder that mixed with a little water becomes what looks like pancake mix, it dries fast and is great for small repairs. A few minutes into the patch you go over the sides and above the patch to remove any access mud. Again, we want it thin!
Once it’s “dry” you can texture. It’s not really dry unless you wait a few hours, but its hardened enough so you can go over it and not mess up the whole project (if you do, repeat steps 0 through all). Dry time depends on the type of mixture you use, it will say on the box or bag. If you are in a humid environment add a few minutes. Cold air will slow the drying process as well, some of us use a heat gun but if you’re reading this article chances are you’re not a drywaller so skip the heat gun and go watch housewives of OC, come back at the end of a full episode!
Texture is what we get paid for!
This is the finish work, what the customer sees, how we get judged, how we get paid and how we buy beer! This is the skill part of the show, until now even your ant can wing it, now comes the stage that separates the boys from the skilled boys. Depending on the type of texture you are trying to match, you might be able to use a can. They offer spray cans for Knockdown, Orange Peel or popcorn (the texture not the food). If you have Smooth Texture, Skip Trowel, Santa Fe or some other hand texture you might be in trouble here…
This one is more of a technique, See photo of “skip trowel” before painting. My advice here is mix the mud to be looser (more watery). What you need to do is a light hand movement letting the knife drag on the wall in a manner that some of the mud gets through while some does not, leaving gaps between the blobs of mud (AKA Skip Trowel).
Skip Trowel Texture
As for can texture shake the can, hold it around 4-5 inches from the wall and with a down movement spay the wall. If you don’t like what you got, you can scrape it off and go again. You can also use the knife to “knok-it-down” and help it match better. Again, don’t use to much texture, less is alway more!
As always, if you are in our service area, Phoenix valley or Tucson area and you want us to handle the repair, we will be delighted to. Contact us here or by Calling 480-525-9825 you can also email your request to office@responsecrew.com
Thanks for stopping by!
