Repairing Drywall Holes
© 2008 by Kelly Smith all rights reserved
This DIY guide will teach you how to repair drywall holes. Drywall repairs involve using sheetrock,
drywall compound, joint tape, and drywall tools. Why
hire a drywall contractor?
So there’s a hole in the drywall. It happens. Whether the wall took a fist shot or it had a head on
collision with a tricycle matters not.
It’s got to be fixed. Luckily, any DIY type person can tackle this job. Read on and learn all there is
to know about repairing drywall holes. The process is just a bit more involved than
repairing drywall seams.
DIY Trivia: Some people mix the terms but drywall is gypsum board and Sheetrock, on the other
hand, is a brand of drywall. Confused? Don’t be!
Tools and Materials for Fixing Drywall Damage
You probably already have these tools in your home tool box. If not, don’t worry. These are all
inexpensive.
- Utility knife
- Drywall saw
- Tri-square or framing square
- Cordless drill with #2 screw tip
- Mesh drywall tape
- Taping knife
- Drywall (same thickness as the existing)
- Drywall compound (mud)
- Mud pan
- Sander with sanding screen or sandpaper
- Drywall screws
- Wood scrap
Prepare the Wall or Ceiling for the Drywall Repair
- First, assemble the drywall tools. Use the square and pencil to draw a square or rectangle
around the hole. The size of the drywall damage will determine whether to use the tri-square
or framing square.
- Using the drywall saw, cut out the square.
- Sand off any texture surrounding the square.
- Cut the scrap of wood to size; it should be four inches longer than the height of the square
just cut out. Insert the scrap of wood into the hole and center it. A piece of 1” X 4” works well
for this.
-
 Hold the wood against the inside of the wall and secure it with three sheetrock screws at the
top and three in the bottom. Be sure that the screw heads are slightly lower than the wall surface.
DIY Tip: If the wood is hard to hold, drill a hole through it, stick a piece of string through it,
and tie a nail to it. Now it can be held tight to the wall by the string. When done, just push the string
through the hole into the wall!
Apply the Drywall Patch
This part is easy; just cut the sheetrock to fit into the hole and carefully screw it into the wood
scrap. But don't push hard, let the screw threads do the work. You don't want to push the wood scrap
out of the drywall it's secured to.
Taping and Floating a Sheetrock Patch
Drywall finishing
is an interesting proposition. It takes time and practice just like any other art form. Like wall
texturing methods, practice makes perfect.
- Put some drywall compound in the mud pan and use the taping knife to thin the mud just a tiny
bit with water.
- Now use the taping knife to spread mud on the tape and on the screw indentations. Use the knife to
smooth it out but don't leave a thick coat. This step is just to fill the joints and secure the tape.
- Let the mud dry.
- Sand any ridges on the dry drywall mud.
- Now comes the floating step. Once again, get some mud in the pan and apply it to the patch and a
few inches beyond the tape. The goal here is to have the wall surface flush and even.
- Let the mud dry and sand it lightly, feathering the outside edges to blend in with the surface.
- Admire the patch! Is it good? Satisfactory? If not, float, dry, and sand again.
- Match the drywall texture, paint with primer, match the paint color, and
paint the drywall.
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