It's definite that at some point, we will all have a hole somewhere in our home that we need to patch up. The bad news itself is the simple inconvenience and blemished wall if it's in an definite area. The good news is, this is unmistakably easy to fix. The even best news is, it's easy enough to fix and make look like there was never a hole in the drywall in the first place!
The definite drywall patching I recently did was to cover up the hole in the drywall that had to be cut to lower the piping that went to the kitchen sink. My wife ultimately got the sink that she wanted. It was nice in deep...heck, those that know me know how short I am...I could just about stand up level in the sink and you couldn't even see my head!! Okay, so that was a microscopic bit of stretch, but the point is that it's a very deep sink. In fact, the sink was so deep, that once the disposal was added, the piping that connected to it was now too high. Since there is no [cheap] technology that defies gravity, the only choice was to cut into the wall and lower the pipe.
LOWES DRYWALL
I will cover both the facility of the sink and the actual piping modification in seperate posts. For now, we're just focusing on fixing the drywall horror that we created to do these projects.
Materials Needed:
Tools Needed:
You will first take the drywall saw and cut out the debris. This is assuming you accidentally put something through the wall (like your fist, yeah, you know who you are). The drywall will cave in, but obviously won't be a nice clean shape. So, start around the edge of the damaged area and just cut a square to remove the damaged drywall. I intentionally made the hole I was fixing. So, when I cut it, I just was very particular and saved the drywall I removed. If this is the case on your project, do the same, it will save you or so on buying drywall. The smallest size that drywall comes in is an 8x2. There may be something different, but this is the smallest I know of. If you did accidentally make a hole in the wall, you will likely have to buy a sheet of this. It runs about at Lowes. If you did have to do this, go ahead and measure your hole and you can cut the drywall to fit the area. Get it close, but it doesn't have to be perfect.
Next, you want to cut you a piece of wood that is about as wide (need a microscopic room on the sides to put your hand to hold in place while screwing) and is longer by almost 2 inches on the top and bottom. Just fantasize a rectangle positioned vertically over a square. Once this is cut, place in the hole and put a wood or drywall screw above the hole so that it catches the wood in the right or left corner. Do the same for the opposite projection and for both corners at the bottom of the hole. Now, you can place the piece of drywall that you cut (or saved) over the wood that's now fastened to the wall. Just set in place and put four screws in the piece so that it fastens to the wood also
The hard part is basically done. At least the measuring, cutting and screwing! Now it's time to make it unnoticeable. Now, take your putty knife and dig out a microscopic joint compound. Press it into the cracks you see around the newly affixed piece of drywall. Once this is complete, you can take your drywall tape and cut into the lengths you need to cover all four sides of the cut. You want the tape to cover the cracks so that there is some tape on the wall and some tape on the new piece you just put in. By recommendation of my father-in-law, I got a small bowl of water and dipped the strips of tape in it before I applied to the wall. It seems to "gum" it up a microscopic and helps it stick better. Plus, it helps the combination mesh best with the tape. After the tape is applied, plainly start applying the combination to the wall. You want to spread it from about 3" exterior of your work area all the way to the inner edges of the tape. You want to be particular not to apply too much, as you do not want there to be a noticeable bulge in the area. Don't be greedy with it either, it could have the reverse influence and dip in. Either way, you can all the time sand it if you add too much and you can add more if you don't add enough. You will be able to tell.
Once the combination is applied, you have to let it dry for almost 24 hours. That's by the directions on most compounds. If you don't use that much (if it's not caked in one area), you can resume work in less time. It just needs to be wholly dry. Once your area is dry, you will take your sander (hopefully a power one, but can use a sanding block also) and begin to sand the combination to make it smooth. You want it to look as much like the original wall as possible, so pay special attentiveness to the edges. Sometimes, the putty knife will put a lip on the combination around the edges. You may not notice them, but when you paint the way, you will see it. After the sanding is complete, check your work. There may be areas where you need to add more compound. Sometimes, microscopic holes will form where there was air under the compound. Fill these in...again, they may not seem like that big of a deal, but when you paint, they will stick out.
Once you are satisfied with the combination and it is wholly dry, dust it off. You want to get all the dust and fragments off the wall before you go further. At this point, assuming your wall is textured, you can take the can of texture that you bought from the list of materials above and apply it. Consequent the directions. You might have to play with it a microscopic as most textures have distinct settings to get distinct effects. Some may make it look like a mist, but have a setting to make it look more like a splatter. You're going to have to be the judge of this. My guidance is to take a cardboard box and practice, then correlate to the wall to see how it looks. This stuff dries fast. So, once it's on the wall and you are happy with it, you are ready to paint it. Hopefully you have the paint color you used originally somewhere in your garage. If you don't, you will have to take a piece of the broken drywall to your hardware store and have them match it up.
Hopefully you won't have any major problems with your drywall. But, if you do, I hope there is enough useful data here to help you patch the hole! If not, leave me a criticism about your situation. Let me try to troubleshoot what's going on and give you some feedback. I have messed up enough stuff, especially recently that I have gotten pretty decent at seeing the answers I need!
How to Patch Drywall LOWES DRYWALL
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