Patching A Small Hole in Drywall

I'm working through my 3rd bucket of joint compound at our apartment conversion and ready to be painting! Today I noticed that I had a small hole to patch where I had added an outlet and thought I'd walk you through how I make a small drywall repair.

First, I find a scrap of wood, or make one, that will cover the hole plus a couple inches. The wood will support the drywall patch. This is important. If you just put some mesh tape over a hole like this and mud it until it's covered, you'll soon have cracks again, because it needs support.



To get the wood in place, drill a drywall screw partway into the middle of it. This screw will give you a 'handle' so you can hold the wood while you screw the drywall to the ends. (Otherwise, you'll drop it into the wall cavity!)

After a couple of screws are holding the wood in place, you can remove the center screw and insert a peice of drywall cut to match the hole.


Then, you just tape and mud the joint like any others. For larger holes you'll need more wood to support it fully.

TIP: Don't apply too much pressure when screwing the drywall down. If you do, you're likely to bust through the drywall and make things worse.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com