How to Fix Holes in Drywall - 4 Easy Methods

Hi,

there I'm Nils with LRN2DIY and sometimes bad stuff happens to your drywall.

Today we're going to cover all of these types of damage,

and we're going to show you how to fix each one of them.

Now just about every hole that you'll find in drywall falls into one of four

types. Basically you've got something that's really small, like an inch,

inch and a half or a smaller, maybe that's two and a half, three centimeters.

And that's something that we can patch a certain way up from there.

You got anything between that size and maybe fist size four or five inches or

so. And then from there,

you've got something that's big enough that it's in between your studs,

or maybe it's even over a stud, but it needs some support.

So we're talking stuff that's about this big or smaller, maybe a seven,

eight inches, nine inches in that range. And then lastly,

we've got some major damage, like what we showed over here,

and this is just going to need to have a whole section replaced.

So those are the four types we're going to cover. And with those four types,

we're going to show you the best and quickest way to handle each of those.

And then I've put chapters below.

So you can actually skip ahead to the section that matches your situation best.

And then with that, we'll show you how to do the patches for each one.

And then at the end of the video,

I'll show you how to match that texture and make it look smooth.

And just like the wall was before,

whether you've got orange peel or a Santa Fe or knocked down or completely

smooth wall. Now to start off with,

we have this really small hole right over here, that was about an inch.

And then we had another one in this lower left corner.

And with something like that,

anything that is about an inch or so maybe two and a half centimeters or so and

smaller, you can actually just patch that just with mud.

You don't really need tape. You don't need a patch kit necessarily,

and you can use those things,

but they're not going to help a whole lot because it's such a small hole it

should be easy enough to work with.

With that what you're going to do is take some mud that you get at the store and

you can buy this in this larger bucket like this for about $6.

They're actually really inexpensive.

You can also buy powder that you mix up yourself,

or you can buy a really small container if you just have a small hole like that.

Now with that, you're going to use a putty knife.

I recommend using one that's at least three or four inches in width.

And with the knife like that, a mud knife, you're just going to take it.

And we're going to fill in that hole as best we can.

You want to be pretty generous in pushing that mud back into that hole to make

sure that it's really back-filled and there's plenty in there so that it's nice

and strong when it dries. Now on the first coat,

you're going to have some bubbling. It's going to bulge out a little bit.

It's not going to want to stay in place really well. And that's okay.

We're going to just put that in there as well as we can,

cover it up and then we'll let that sit.

Now with this fist size hole that we've got over here,

there's a few ways that you can tackle this.

I'll show you all three and two of them are very similar. With the first one,

you can buy a large patch that's a mesh adhesive patch like this one here.

We can actually just apply this eight by eight patch over the whole thing.

And the goal here is really simple. We're going to clean up our edges,

make sure it looks good.

And then we're going to smooth that patch out as best we can to make sure

there's no creases or wrinkles or any issues with that patch.

And it's nice and smooth.

And then we're going to take our mud and we're going to fill that in and push a

lot of that mud into the area that has the hole in it.

And you can see from the back here, when you push mud in through these patches,

like this, it's kind of a Play-Doh fun factory effect. And that's what we want.

We want to get a lot of that back there to rebuild that drywall that's back

behind there.

And once we've got that field in really nicely through the area behind the

patch,

then we're going to cover up the whole patch itself using that same knife.

And our goal here is just to get it nice and clean.

It doesn't have to be perfect.

We just want it to look really good and cover up everything that's there.

So that's option number one for your first coat option.

Number two is what's called the Presto patch.

The Presto patch is a really simple idea.

Basically it's a four circle of half inch drywall.

And then it's got a larger section of paper that we'll use to blend that in with

the surrounding wall.

So the idea with this one is you take the styrofoam that came with it.

It's a template. You trace out your template with pencil,

and then we're going to cut that out with a knife and get that circle just the

right size to match that Presto patch. Now, once we've got that circle cut out,

we're going to liberally apply mud all around the inside of the circle.

As best you can also apply around the outside of the circle where the paper

goes, and then don't forget to apply it also to the plug itself.

So you'll want to apply that mud liberally to the patch itself,

especially on the top of it, of that circle,

where some of the gravity will have pulled it down from the hole in the wall.

And then we're going to push that in. And from there,

we're going to use our knife to pull across.

We're going to pull from the center outward,

and we're going to smooth all of that mud out from underneath the paper and try

just like before we want to cover it enough that it's covering everything there.

And we're not going to have anything peeking through,

but not so much that it's going to take two years to dry,

where we're going to have to sand for eternity. Now,

the third technique that we can use for a hole like this is we can use what's

called the California patch.

Now with that, we're doing the same thing that we saw with the Presto patch,

but this time we're actually cutting our own essentially out of drywall.

The first step in doing something like this is cutting out a square as big as it

needs to be to get good, strong drywall all around it.

So anything that's been roughed up or broken, especially on that backside.

We want to cut that out and make that square as big as it needs to be to where

we've got good, solid drywall there. So I'm using a square about this big here.

I'm going to clean up my edges and make sure it decent.

And then I'm going to use a piece of drywall.

I'm going to cut a piece that's about an inch and a half bigger on all sides

than that square. So let's say this was a five by five.

Then we want to cut a piece of drywall that's about eight by eight.

Then that leaves us with that inch and a half all the way around. Now,

once you've got that piece, you can hold the piece right up to the wall,

use your knife to score a line all the way down one side and all the way down

the inside that's just a little bit smaller than the hole.

Now we're going to flip it to the other side for the height and do the same

thing.

We're going to have that square in the middle that's going to keep there and end

up being our plug.

From there you're going to snap off and then you're going to peel everything but

that front paper off.

So you're going to get all of the gypsum and that back paper removed on all four

sides so that you end up with a plug like this, just like the Presto patch,

but one that we made ourselves. And then from there,

the technique is exactly like what we showed with the Presto patch.

We're going to line the outside of this and the inside of the hole with mud.

We're going to line mud all over the inside of the patch itself.

I'm going to push that in after we've got the right fit and we've dry fitted it

to make sure it works okay.

We're going to smooth out all the mud from all of the paper.

And then we're going to cover the whole thing in its first coat.

Now the only difference between the second type of hole and the third type of

hole in your drywall is backing. If it's a little bit bigger,

if it's anything bigger than about fist size,

I would recommend that you put some backer boards on it.

And this technique is really simple. You just need a couple of scraps of wood,

could be anything.

Plywood works really well because it doesn't split very easily,

but you can use some leftover MDF, some trim, um,

just some one by pine that you have lying around.

Anything will work pretty well.

And what you want to do is cut it so that it extends out a couple of inches past

the width of the hole on both sides or the height, whichever way you want to go.

It doesn't matter if you put these horizontally or vertically really,

but our goal is to provide four corners for the patch to screw into.

And then those four corners are supported by screws into the drywall around it.

So we're going to drive some screws with these boards here.

We're going to drive them right into the board and have that pucker the board

right up tight against the drywall. And then once I've got those two boards in,

I end up with a nice area and support for my patch to go into. Now,

a fix like this, you can actually go fairly large on this.

If you've got a 10 inch hole, for example,

then it can cover something like that pretty easily,

as long as you've got that support and you've cleaned up your square and you've

got made sure that you've got good drywall to work with.

What you don't want to do is kind of go skimpy on the size of the hole that you

cut for this, and then have weak drywall to work with around it.

Because this depends on the strength of the drywall surrounding the hole that

you've cut out. Now,

our fourth type of hole is the largest thing.

That's where there's a lot of damage.

Somebody's body checked the whole wall or something like that,

or got thrown into it. And you've got a large amount of damage here,

and it's pretty beat up. With that,

what I would doing every time is just cutting it out from stud to stud.

You're going to need a stud finder that you can rely on to find exactly where

the studs are and then you're going to mark those on your wall.

Once you have those studs marked, you can use a jab saw or a drywall saw.

You can also use a knife for this, like a box cutter like we've been using,

but a jab saw makes quick work of this.

And we're going to cut from stud to stud.

We're also going to cut right down along the inside of the two studs where we're

working. So now that we know exactly where the inside of the studs are,

we want to come over about three quarters of an answer about half the thickness

of the stud,

and we're going to use a knife and we're going to open that section up.

The goal here is to have a lip or a secure area for the new piece of drywall

that we're going to put in, to sit on.

We're going to actually have it span from stud to stud,

and it will then be able to use those studs to fasten in and hold in place

really well. Now, just like with the California patch,

we could create a large California patch here to fit in this area,

but I'm going to show you how to do this with mesh tape instead,

which is a very common method for a larger area like this.

So basically we're going to fasten this new piece in we're going to use our dry

wall screws and drive it in.

We're going to apply some of our yellow adhesive mesh tape.

We're going to apply one piece on each side,

try not to overlap them because that just adds to the thickness of the,

of the covering that we have to do, and then use your knife to tear it.

It makes a nice straight line it's really easy to work with.

And once we've got all four sides covered up there,

then we're just going to apply mud just like before into those seems,

we're going to push that in. And from the back,

you can see what this looks like.

We're really just pushing that mud really thick into that area to try to cover

as much of that half inch section or 5/8 inch section as we can.

So we're going to just cover this all up so that you can't see the tape anymore.

Again,

it doesn't have to be perfect on the first coat and we're going to do our best

to get it nice and covered.

We'll come back to the next day and the next day we can go through and sand

this, and you can do this with a hand sanded sponge like this guy here,

or you can do this with a orbital sander, for example,

or a palm sander if you have one.

But make sure to wear proper respiration,

this is going to kick a lot of dust up.

So make sure that your lungs are protected.

I would recommend some goggles or safety glasses as well.

So our second coat, we are going to use a larger knife,

and I'm going to try to cover that up and smooth everything over after it's been

sanded. So we'll put that second coat on. We call it a skim coat.

And what I also recommend doing there is mixing up some water into your pan.

So if you have a mud pan, if you don't, you can use something similar to it,

but mud pans are awesome because they have a blade on either side to scrape that

extra mud off of,

and it gives you a nice clean blade every time you use it or a nice clean knife.

So we're going to use that and we're going to skim across here and we're going

to get this nice and covered.

And hopefully it ends up with a pretty smooth finish. Now,

depending on if you're working with kind of a knockdown style or Santa Fe style

texture on your wall versus an orange peel, you might end up with some,

you know, high spots and low spots and things like that. But again,

the goal is just to get it as smooth as we can.

I'm going to feather on that outside. Feather

on this outside,

same with the top and the bottom creating a nice

smooth transition.

And then one down the middle. There we go. Okay.

That makes all the difference. Having a good blade. It really does help.

So if you can get one, these things are pretty cheap too.

I think they're usually around 10 bucks for a metal blade like this.

I've been using this one for years and it works well. Now,

depending on how that comes out with that second coat,

you might need to come back and sand it and do a third coat.

Or maybe it's looking good at that second coat and you're ready to place

texture. Now,

no matter what size the patch was that we had to take care of on the wall,

you want to make sure to use something that matches the texture afterward.

So if you've got an orange peel sort of texture on your wall and you finish it

smooth, it's going to look like it was patched. Same with,

if you do the opposite,

now they do sell different textures that you can purchase.

You can buy these online and I'll put links in the description below.

They come in different size cans and there's different ways to do it,

but I'll put some of my favorites and then you can also stop at the local

hardware store and pick up this wall texture in a can.

They've got orange peel like you see here.

And then they also have a knockdown variety. Now, with both of these,

you've got different settings.

You can move this tab from side to side to adjust the pressure that it sprays.

And then you can twist this knob here to adjust the coarseness or fineness of

the spray.

So you might want to experiment on a piece of cardboard or an unseen area,

just to make sure that you're not trying this out for the first time on your

actual wall. And then you can just spray it in circular motion like this,

and this actual spray is in bad shape, for whatever reason,

it's not spraying out very well.

Typically it will spray a little bit better than this, but you get the idea.

So we're going to cover that up and then you'll end up with hopefully a decent

matching orange peel texture. Now, if you don't have orange peel,

but you have something more like the Santa Fe or knockdown down texture,

and you can recognize that by how it has some areas that are raised and some

that are lowered, it looks kind of like this kind of Euro texture going onto it.

It's very traditional. It's been around for a long time.

So if you have that texture, you can also buy some knockdown texture in a can.

And the gist here is very similar.

You're going to spray it in kind of a random pattern around the area that needs

to be treated.

And then you're going to use a 10 or 12 inch knife and pull across it really

evenly. And your goal is to leave this as smooth as possible.

You don't want any little streaks or cuts or scrape marks in there or anything

like that, because this is kind of the final coat that you're going to be doing.

Now, if you don't want to use the can,

you can also just use this by hand with some mud and just dab some mud on here

in different areas, kind of randomly,

you want to make sure to not make it look like it's in rows or lines or anything

like that. So keep that as random as possible. And then just like before,

you're going to take your 10 or 12 inch knife and pull it across,

go in various directions if you need to to try to get that nice,

smooth finish to it. And if you have a good blade,

a metal blade makes it so much easier.

I've tried this with the plastic ones and they don't really do very well.

But with that metal blade,

you can pull that across and get a really good texture.

And your goal is to leave some of the areas, a little lower,

some a little higher. So you have that knocked down or Santa Fe, look to it.

Now, the last thing to do is just paint.

So make sure that you get all of the dust off there.

This stuff can be really porous. It can really soak up a lot of that paint,

but you don't want to end up with a lot of dust on your roller while you're

doing this. And as you can see here,

this wall that was full of holes just a couple of days ago is now patched up and

looks good. Now, one tool that was really helpful on these larger patches,

especially like this one up here is a good stud finder knowing exactly where

that stud is having an accurate representation of that.

I did a video a little while ago on several different stud finders compared we

did the stud finder showdown.

So if you want to check that out and see which one works best for you,

you can click on that link right up there. Thanks for watching, I'm Nils,

and we'll see you on the next one.