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How To Do A No-Mess Drywall Patch

  
  
  

drywall textureIf you've ever had to patch drywall, you know that it is a process. After you patch the hole, you have to tape the patch and float out some drywall mud (compound). Typically you have to sand the mud after it dries to level out the patch with the surrounding area. Then you can texture the patch, if necessary.

Sanding the patch is a very messy job. If you are careful, you may not have much sanding to do. If at the end of the mud job you can smooth out the mud and get most of it off with your taping knife, you may not have much to sand away anyway.

The sanded drywall mud is a heavy dust that seems to cake on everywhere it lands. The cleanup of sanded drywall mud is awful. It will clog vacuum filters, and you will have to sweep it off of hard surfaces many times. One alternative is to use a damp sponge. You can wring out a sponge until there is no water left in it, and then use a slight swirling motion on the mud. When the sponge gets filled with drywall mud, dunk it in a bucket of water and again wring it out until it is just damp. This will keep the clean up to a minimum. Once the drywall patch is flat, you can texture and paint it. Here is some additional information on drywall repairs.

How To Repair A Damaged Drywall Corner

  
  
  

drywall cornerDrywall corners take a beating. Whether they form a 90-degree corner or have rounded bull nose they all dent when little Johnny swings a toy into it, or runs a wagon into it, or...you get the picture. Fortunately, they aren't difficult to repair...all you need is a little drywall mud, some texture, and paint.

Whether the corners are square or rounded, the corners are metal and you basically want to correct any metal that is sticking out...you want to hammer it back into place and fill in the gaps with drywall mud. If you have a deformed piece of metal jutting out, you can tap it into place with a hammer. If the metal corner is torn you can use a standard screwdriver or chisel and place it back into the plane of the wall. Hold a ruler or yardstick against the wall and let the end of it stick out past the wall. If you can move the yardstick up and down the wall and the damaged metal doesn't touch the yardstick, you are good to go. Do this on the intersecting wall also.

Get out the drywall mud and fill in the damaged areas. Once that dries, you can texture it and then paint it. Here is some information on how to repair drywall and texture it.

How To Match Interior Paint For A Drywall Repair

  
  
  

matching paintMatching paint is tough. Two weeks ago I wrote about matching exterior paint for stucco. Well, more often I find myself having to match interior paint for a drywall repair, or just freshening dirty walls. You can have a perfect drywall patch and poor matching paint and the wall patch will look terrible. You can have a mediocre drywall patch and perfect paint, and the result is very nice. So how do you get a good paint match?

Most homeowners don't know how to color paint, which is why they make computers to do this for us. As long as the machine has been properly calibrated, the quarter-size sample you bring in can be matched. If you don't have a piece of broken drywall (that has the correct paint on it) laying around from your drywall patch, here is a little trick. You can go to an inconspicuous area, like a closet or down low on the wall, and cut out a paint sample. Now when I say cut out, I'm taking about making a shallow cut in the drywall just deep enough to peel off the paint and the top layer of drywall paper. Do this by using a utility knife and cutting about 1/16" deep into the drywall. This will cut through the paint, texture, and top layer of drywall paper. Make a cut about 1 ½" square...this will be big enough for the computer to match. Then take the blade and lift the corner of the cut and gently peel it off.

So you will have another small drywall blemish to fix and texture, but at least the paint should be a very good match. Here is some information on repairing drywall.

Drywall Repair Shortcut For The Inexperienced

  
  
  

drywall plugA drywall patch for an inexperienced homeowner can leave your knees knocking. There is a trick though that can shave a little time and apprehension off of your job. When I say small, I mean about 4 inches or less, so a hole caused by a doorknob is perfect. They sell screens that go right over the hole, but I prefer to use a drywall plug.

First off you want to clean up the hole. Cut the drywall hole larger ( I know it sounds counterproductive)in the shape of a square. Now you will need a piece of drywall (the same thickness as the piece you're working on, either ½ inch or 5/8 inch) 3 inches larger than the size of the hole you are patching. That means if your hole is 4 inches square, use a piece 7 inches square. We are going to make this 7 inch piece of drywall fit into this 4 inch hole...sort of.

Normally, you would screw a couple of wood boards behind the hole so the drywall patch has something to screw into. Then you would use tape (either paper or fiberglass) to cover the edges and float out the drywall compound (aka mud). However, with the plug method, you can bypass the wood and the tape.

Here's how you do it. Lets assume the hole is 4 inches. With your 7 inch piece of drywall you will remove everything but a 4 inch square in the middle, that means we will take off 1 ½ inches from each side of the piece. Use a utility knife and score the back side of the drywall piece. Then snap the drywall and pull it away from the paper face. You will do this on all 4 sides and when done you will have a flap of paper that is connected to the patch. This flap will act as the tape.

Butter up the flaps and smoosh it the hole. Once you push it in, the drywall compound will squeeze out around the perimeter of the patch. Use a drywall knife or putty knife and float it out. After it dries you can clean up the perimeter, texture and paint. Here are some details on how to texture drywall.

Drywall Repair For A Loose Towel Bar

  
  
  

A common repair we get is for a towel bar that has come loose. Actually, it's not a repair of the towel bar, but rather a drywall repair. The towel bar in usually installed with more importance on the cosmetic rather than the soundness of the installation. Typically, it is screwed into drywall rather than into a wall stud.

Along comes a child that thinks it would be fun to lift up themselves on it, or an adult that loses his balance, etc. The result is that the drywall develops an elongated hole from the screw or wall anchor, and the towel bar becomes loose.

You can try to move the towel bar over enough to bite into fresh drywall or even a stud (if the mounting plate/escutcheon is large enough) and re-install it. The most common solution though is to use a larger wall anchor. You can use a small toggle bolt (aka molly bolt), an EZ anchor, or a large hollow wall anchor. For the larger wall anchors, get the kind that have tall sharp teeth. These will really bite into the drywall and give a good amount of strength. Simply place the sharp point of the anchor against the wall and screw it in. Then place the mating screw into the towel bar's mounting plate and screw it into the toggle. The only downside is that if this pulls out of the wall, you will have a drywall hole of about an inch around.

Drywall Repair For "Nail Pops"

  
  
  

drywall repair nail popYou've probably seen areas in your drywall that have small areas standing proud of the surface. These areas are about the size of the head of a nail right? The official name of this phenomenon is called a "drywall nail pop". It is a drywall repair that you typically see them around stairs where the vibration of people moving on them causes slight movement. This vibration will work a nail out of the drywall and cause the head of it to "pop" out. This can be ugly, especially if you have an entire column of them popping out. Repairing them is actually pretty easy.

You first need to dig out the popped nail. I usually try to be as neat with this as possible since you will have to fill the hole that is left. Try digging out the nail head using a sharp utility knife to cut away the texture or drywall at the nail head. Then use pliers to grab the head and twist it back and forth to wiggle it free.

With the nail removed, screw a drywall screw above and below the nail location. I prefer course threaded drywall screws, 1 5/8" long installed one inch above and one inch below the nail's location. Push on the drywall as you screw them in. You want to screw them into the stud so the screw head ends up just below the surface of the drywall. If you can run a putty knife over the area and not hear a metal "clink", that's deep enough.

The rest is window dressing. Fill in the divots, float the area (if it's bad enough), texture if necessary, and paint it. The screws will hold far better that the nail. You can go here for details on drywall texturing.

Drywall Repair? Try a Ceiling Medallion

  
  
  

drywall repairI have a customer that removed a can light (aka recessed light) and wants to install a hanging light fixture in its place. She is stumped because the decorative cover for the hanging light isn't big enough to cover the hole left by the larger can light. She called for an estimate on doing some drywall repair so that the cover of the new light fixture would cover the old hole.

As a Las Vegas handyman, of course I could repair the drywall, but I suggested she look at a ceiling medallion to take care of this. A ceiling medallion is a decorative plate that covers the hole. They come in all flavors, large and small. Pick one that fits your taste and stick it to the ceiling. They can be painted to match or contrast whatever you like.

Medallions are a great way of drawing attention to an otherwise boring ceiling or light fixture. For the most part, medallions are inexpensive and easy to install. They are made of plastic or polyurethane and may be painted. They usually come in one piece, which means you will have to take the light fixture down only to reinstall it again. Others come in two halves. You can then screw it to the ceiling, patch the holes and paint it.

Drywall Texture

  
  
  

drywall repairDrywall repair and drywall texture can be very frustrating. Sometimes you get a good patch, but the texture just doesn't match. Or maybe the texture looks good, but the underlying patch was poor and noticeable. Homeownership is full of these challenges.

My career of blending in damaged surfaces started when I was about 10 years old. In one of his fits of unprovoked rage, my brother chased me up the stairs with my sister's baton.

Well, I narrowly escaped by hurling myself into my room and locking the door. My brother dug in and -- reminiscent of a major leaguer -- put the baton through the cheap hollow door. My parents were due home shortly and we knew we would be in big trouble if they saw the hole.

I stuffed the hole full of newspaper and slid a piece of cardboard inside to hold it all together. A couple of pieces of masking tape finished the primitive patch. Fortunately, the color of the tape matched the door.

It was 10 years before my parents realized that the door was damaged. By that time the statute of limitations had expired and my brother and I had a good laugh. The point is that even if the patch job is excellent, you will likely notice it because you know where it is. Someone walking through the house would probably not.

I doubt there is a home repair person around that has not wrestled with the challenge of matching texture. Short of reshooting the entire wall, you will have to experiment with different techniques and mixtures to get the right look.

You first want to make sure your wall patch is dry and then sand it. Use fine sandpaper and a sanding block to level the patch. Use a swirling motion with your hand to get rid of the high spots.

You're going to see a flat patch in the middle of the textured wall. Before you start texturing the patch, feather the patch into the surrounding texture. Use warm water and either a sponge or a soft-bristled toothbrush. Dip the sponge or toothbrush into the warm water and swirl the border of the patch away (if you use a sponge, wring it out first). You want to erase the outline of the patch.

There are two main types of texture: orange peel and knockdown. Orange peel uses a thinner material, higher pressure and a smaller orifice than knockdown, which is leveled with a wide trowel to create larger flat areas. Between these options, you can get a lot of variety in the finished look.

You can buy spray texture in a can that does a pretty decent job. It sells for about $12 and claims it will cover up to 100 square feet, depending on the splatter size. For this option, I recommend the Homax brand. It comes with three straws of varying diameter to shoot different sized splatters. It's also oil-based and will dry in about 30 minutes. The downside is that it stinks and will stain carpet and clothing, so cover everything up.

You can adjust the nozzle pressure by changing the temperature of the can. If the pressure is too low, stick the can in warm water for a few minutes. If the pressure is too high, stick it in cool water.

Practice on a piece of cardboard first. You want to hold the can 1 or 2 feet from the surface and use a quick sweeping motion. Don't hold the button down for too long.

If you have knockdown texture, instead of using a trowel to flatten the texture while it is drying, wait until it has completely dried and use fine sandpaper on a sanding block to flatten it. You will have more control.

You can also try to match the texture using a sponge. Choose one that has various sized holes. Use a flat pan (like a pie pan) and mix some joint compound with water. The mixture shouldn't be too soupy or too thick. Practice on scrap before you move to the wall.

Get the sponge damp and push it gently into the mixture. Touch the wall with it and pull it off. Peeling the sponge off will give a different look. You will be left with little spikes that you will have to knockdown.

Along the same lines is to mix up some joint compound and water and use a turkey baster. This technique is good for small patches. Just don't load up the baster so much that it just squirts a big blob on the wall. The tip should have a space so that as you squeeze the baster, the rushing air picks up the texture and throws it on the wall.

Probably the most important part of the job is the paint. You can make most patches go away by repainting the entire wall and not just the patch.

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