Drywall Repairs - Doing it Yourself

If you are a homeowner, or sometimes even if you are an apartment or rental home dweller, there will probably come times when you have to make drywall repairs. Drywall can often be tricky to work with, and in the weaker parts of walls it can be easily damaged. When you find that the drywall is cracked somewhere, you might wonder whether you should fix it yourself or call in a professional. Fortunately, drywall repairs tend to be fairly easy as long as you follow some simple guidelines, and unless there is extensive damage, you should be able to do the repairs yourself.

The first thing that you want to do with drywall repairs is assess the damage to your wall. If it is a relatively small hole—most people would define that as no bigger than the circumference of a baseball, although others would say a dinner plate—then you will use one method of repair. If it is a very large hole or a very long crack, you will probably use another method of repair. The majority of drywall repairs consist of patching holes, but simple cracks do happen sometimes also. Correcting these problems takes a few tools and a some various materials, depending on what you think is best.

With small to medium sized holes, drywall repairs usually start with a little sanding. More than likely the hole is going to have jagged edges, and you want to try to smooth these edges down as much as possible. Also, there will be some drywall sticking out from the wall either to the outside, to the inside, or to both. You want everything to be as flush as possible and as smooth as possible. Drywall can be pretty fragile, so use sandpaper that isn't too rough. It shouldn't take long to smooth out any edges, either. Just do it until you feel that it is good enough.

What you do with your drywall repairs after sanding depends on the size of the damage. With a small hole you may be able to just spackle over the hole, let it dry, and paint over it. With a large hole, though, it would probably be too difficult to fill it with spackle. With larger holes, try covering with a strong yet pliable material, and then taping or gluing the material down. You want this as flush as possible. Spackle over the material and then paint. Your goal is to make it so that nobody can tell there was every any repair done in that area.

About The Author:

Tags:

Rating:

Comments

Your Name:
Email Address:
Title:	Drywall Repairs - Doing it Yourself
Author:	Joy Stoyle
Message about this article:

Main Menu

Drywall Repairs - Doing it Yourself