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I'm renovating my kitchen in a big way. New cabinets, counters, appliances, I tore out two walls, all the floors, replaced and moved all gas and water lines, rewired everything, moved air ducts, blah, blah blah.
Anyway, I'm now putting up new drywall. The big areas are easy enough, but what about all the smaller areas where I had to tear it up to access something? I have at least a dozen 6-8" holes and also some bigger holes where I removed pipes. I was thinking about cutting a new piece of drywall to fit the hole and then going from there with mud and fiberglass tape. Am I on the right track? Anything quicker or easier?
Also, what about areas where some of the paper has torn off but everything else is intact otherwise?
Ball up some chicken wire and push into the 6" & 8" holes. Gives the dry wall mud something to adhere to. The missing paper area need to be feather sanded then skim coated with mud
Go to home depot, buy repair clips, and do as you began with cutting the drywall to fit the holes (you'll need to make the holes regular in shape). A lot less brain damage and the right way.
Cooper, do NOT use the chicken wire or the "handy dandy patch kit" methods! Take it from someone who deals with this situation EVERY day. The thing about "patches" is they are just that. PATCHES. And if you do not take the time to do it right, you will create an even bigger problem than you have now and they will look like patches. The best thing you can do is enlarge the patch as much as is reasonable. Say 12"x12". Place some blocking along the edges and attach new piece of drywall to that blocking. Lastly, the fiberglass tape is great, but it should only be used with "setting type" mud i.e. Easy Sand or Dura Bond.Likewise, you don't use setting type mud w/ the paper tape.In your case, go with the 90 minute. Take you time, do it RIGHT and you'll see the rewards when your done.
Chicken wire has worked for me in the past. To each his own. When you put the chicken wire in the hole, expand it to fill not only the hole, but the cavity between the walls. I would not use it on anything larger than 8 -10" holes. I just have an issue with making an 8" circle a 12" square. I will admit, I don't work with it everyday.
I've found that sometimes, if there are enough and they're concentrated with a 4x8 or two sheets of rock, it might be worth ripping it all down and re-rocking it. Taping one joint is a hell of a lot easier than patching holes (take it from someone who was in charge of fixing the college apartment for my rowdy roommates.)
Where are the holes, out in the open? That's another reason to consider re-rocking that area is no matter how you feather it, in hte right light with even eggshell paint, you'll see the bumps.
But if you're going to patch the holes, you can also take pieces of wood lathe (or paint stirring sticks in a pinch), slide them up inside the hole so they're extended about 2-3" on either side and screw them thru the rock. Make sure you leave enough overlap for your patch to get some screw to bite. Do top and bottom, cut your patch to the size of the hole, set it in, screw it into the lathe, then mud, tape, etc.
If replacing a whole sheet isn't reasonable, can you cover a bunch of holes with a sheet. For example, take a 2x4 piece of rock and take care of a few at one time.
In the end, the bigger the piece you can replace, the better off you are. And remember to feather out the mud wide on your finish coats so it blends better. You don't want there to be a ridge you have to sand off at the end.
__________________ "You're gonna need a bigger boat" -- Martin Brody
"Kiss my a$$, I bought a boat. I'm going out to sea." -- Lyle Lovett
Cooper, do NOT use the chicken wire or the "handy dandy patch kit" methods! Take it from someone who deals with this situation EVERY day. The thing about "patches" is they are just that. PATCHES. And if you do not take the time to do it right, you will create an even bigger problem than you have now and they will look like patches. The best thing you can do is enlarge the patch as much as is reasonable. Say 12"x12".* Place some blocking along the edges and attach new piece of drywall to that blocking. Lastly, the fiberglass tape is great, but it should only be used with "setting type" mud i.e. Easy Sand or Dura Bond.*Likewise, you don't use setting type mud w/ the paper tape.*In your case, go with the 90 minute. Take you time, do it RIGHT and you'll see the rewards when your done.
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What he wrote. The only thing I would add is to taper the edges of the drywall both on the patch piece and on the existing wall - it will help make a butt joint less obvious.
__________________ Move along, nothing to see here.
Mist-Rest - 2/6/2007 5:11 PM Don't forget the beer to wash down the dust.
DAMN! I ALWAYS forget that part! [img]../images/emoticons/confused.gif[/img]
And RI builder is right, I just forgot to mention, taper the edges with a box rasp on both the patch piece and the existing. Rasp it down about 1.5 inches from the edge, from about 1/8" to nothing.
It is always easier to repair a square or rectangular hole then it is a busted out hole.
Use a utility knife to cut the paper on your drywall wall and your patch and peal the paper off. By doing this it allows for your "paper" tape to be flush with the drywall wall.
*personally I’ve never had any success with the fiber tape....it always seems to let go down the road!
For maximum quality finish flare out your “drywall compound” 8" from the size of your patch. IMO there is absolutely zero need for using Durabond......with the above method you are not filling voids, you are only doing a typical drywall seam! Sand the area with a piece of sandpaper mounted to a large block of flat wood - 2 x 4 is good. By using the wood you will create a flat finished surface....it will not be waving at you when you are done.
Garett: I assume that the two studs are two 1x2 firring strips that you stuck on the inside of the drywall and not the actual studs of the wall, right? Otherwise, he's gonna have to really expand the existing hole.
What is going over this repair when its completed? If its being tiled you dont need to do a perfect job. When repairing holes I always use a piece of sheetrock the same width of the hole but about 6 inches longer. I put glue on the top 3 inches and bottom 3 inches facing me and insert it inside the wall openeing. Dont forget to run a screw or two dead center for a handle. The just run a few screws through the top above the hole and a few below. Let the glue dry. Remove the screws and just glue your patch piece over the backing piece that is now firmly glue to the back of the wall.
WOW! TONS of great replies. The patched areas will really be all over the place. Some are on the ceiling, some on normal walls but behind things (like the fridge), others on normal walls but exposed, and others behind cabinets. The ceiling is probably the biggest job because I knocked down a wall and am joining the ceilings in two rooms.
Just1more, when you say "Rasp it down about 1.5 inches from the edge, from about 1/8" to nothing," do you mean that the very edge should only be 1/8" or less thick?
Garett, thanks for the picture. That's pretty much what I had in mind.
Another dumb question: why are square holes easier to patch?
Unless the wall looks like it was hit with a machine gun I would not start ripping down sheets, I would repair each hole individually! The above method is very quick and extremely accurate! You should NOT see where the patch repair work was done regardless of the lighting angle!
As far as your wood backing strips goes, anything goes as long as it is long enough and straight! With some of the smaller holes a single 2 x 4 on the flat can be used.
Remember a hole is a hole regardless of what size it is!
patching drywall? 
