Taking a look at some of the top drywall repair tips and tricks for helping your home renovation or repairs. How to get a professional look for your repairs.
Is your drywall starting to show its age?
Drywall is great. It is cost-effective, easy to install and gives a great finish to a wall and ceiling. But over time little dings, scratches and even holes are inevitable. If you want to keep your home looking its best, knowing how to patch drywall is vital.
Read on for our drywall repair tips and tricks for getting a professional look for your repairs.
Dent Before You Patch
As you move your furniture around, you are often left with little holes in the walls from removed nails or picture hangers. These stubborn little holes often have small ridges of drywall sticking out. This makes them very hard to patch.
The trick is to make a dent over the hole and fill this instead. You don’t need anything fancy to make the dent – the handle of your putty knife will do.
Press this against the hole and apply a controlled twisting pressure to the surface – this will make sure you don’t knock in a bigger hole!
Skim-Coat Is a Time-Saver
Drywall isn’t as fragile as some people think, but that doesn’t mean it is meant to take a beating. Dents and holes are a common sight in heavily-trafficked areas. Individually patching each hole would take a long time, which is where skim-coat comes in.
Mix one part water to three parts joint compound to make it easier to spread. Using a wide taping knife, skim the entirety of the dented area with the mix. Once you scrape off the excess you should see all your dents filled.
Filler Isn’t For Everything
Cracks around window and door frames are a common sight in homes with drywall. As the frames move it puts increased strain on the drywall and cracks appear. These are stubborn and hard to patch with filler.
But the filler isn’t your only tool. Spray-on crack repair is the perfect tool to patch these cracks. It is more flexible than filler, allowing it to stretch as the frames shift. If the cracks are larger, you may need to apply some patching compound first to fill it in.
Temperature change is the main reason for expansion cracking. If you are noting a lot of cracks, you might want to schedule a heating inspection.
Use Self-Priming Filler
Traditional fillers absorb paint. This means you need to apply a large number of coats after patching or use a sealing primer after your patch. If you don’t, your patch will be so noticeable you needn’t have bothered!
Try switching to a self-priming patching material for areas you will repaint. This saves you time and money as you don’t need to buy extra primer. Self-priming patching material has grown in popularity over the years, so it will be readily available in any hardware store.
Fill a Row of Holes in One
If you want your repair job to look professional, you need to do what professionals do.
When you are dealing with rows of screw holes or nail, try and fill them with a single stripe of joint compound. Not only will this make it easier to sand down after it dries, but it will also save you time and hide the holes better. No more evenly spaced bumps!
Seal Exposed Drywall Paper Before Patching
Drywall paper is prone to tearing when you remove adhesive tape or anything else sticky from your walls. This will expose the brown paper underneath. The natural response is to apply a quick patch to cover this up.
But doing so would be a mistake. The water in your patching material will seep into the paper and bubble. This is an even worse eyesore than the exposed paper!
To avoid this you need to first seal the area with an oil-based sealer. Avoid water-based sealers, or they will make the situation worse. Once applied, you can sand the area and patch as you normally would.
Get a New Perspective
After your initial fill, it is a good idea to point a bright light against your work. If you position the light at an angle so that the beam rakes against the wall, it will make it much easier to see any defects.
If any patches need further filling or sanding, they will cast shadows. If you don’t see any problems, then well done. You have achieved a professional level patch job that will be indistinguishable once painted.
Spray on Wall Texture
Textured walls are a blessing and a curse when it comes to patching. On the one hand, they do a great job of hiding small defects with the wall, but on the other, they make large patch jobs a nightmare.
Thankfully, spray-on texture allows you to patch in the normal way, and then disguise the area. A much nicer prospect than hiring a professional! Depending on your needs, you’ll be able to choose between normal, quick-dry and professional sprays. Professional gives you the most control but takes a bit of practice to get used to.
Use Stick-On Patches for Midsize Holes
If you’ve got kids, then you’ve probably also had a doorknob sized hole in your drywall before. The fastest and easiest way to patch these holes is a stick-on mesh patch.
Clean up the wall around the hole and then sand it down to give the mesh and patching material something to latch on to. Put the patch over the hole and then apply two thin layers of patching material over the top.
Be sure to make sure you get the right size mesh – they come in a few different sizes.
Remember These Drywall Repair Tips
Drywall is easy to patch. But it isn’t so easy to patch it well! But by using drywall repair tips and tricks you can ensure that you have a professional-looking finish every time.
If you found this article useful, be sure to check out our other blog posts. If you are looking for information on home improvements, repairs or DIY, we have you covered.
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