How to seal a hole in drywall: useful tips

How to seal a hole in drywall? You can, of course, act like Uncle Fedor’s mother from the famous cartoon - hang a picture. Easy, simple, fast. But sometimes a hole appears in a place where the picture is useless, for example, on the ceiling, in the corner. Or the hole size is too big. Wallpapering is also not an option. They may clump or sag. And not every drywall wall is under the wallpaper. Decorative plaster will not help here either.

So what to do? The case is much simpler than it seems. Even a woman can solve a problem.

Necessary tools

If the hole in the drywall is from a self-tapping screw or nail, then you only need a spatula, putty, sandpaper, a pair of hands. Dilute, coat, let dry, clean - done.

If a huge hole gapes, the list of tools is much more impressive:

• Pencil for marking. Even a nail would do, just to see the mark.
• Ruler, tape measure, even a simple thread - for measurement.
• Special knife for cutting drywall. An ordinary hacksaw is fine.
• Putty and putty knife.
• 2 pieces of wooden battens, slightly larger than the holes in size.
• Several screws, screwdriver or screwdriver. They may not be useful, but let them be.
• Streaks of thick paper, gauze or special tape - serpyanka.
• A piece of drywall. Better a few. Slightly larger than the hole.
• PVA glue.
• Enthusiasm and desire to work a little.

Not all of the above will need to be used, but it is better to play it safe than to frantically go shopping or beg around the neighbors.

Beginning of work

If there are cracks, then it is necessary to slightly expand them with a special knife. He also needs to clean the hole if the hole arose from water. Wet drywall cannot be restored. Therefore, damage is completely cut to a solid base. Then the perimeter is ground at an angle. 45 degrees - perfect.

Tip. If a hole with torn edges or a complex geometric shape, it is better to expand it with a special hacksaw to a square, rectangle, circle. So it will be much easier to cut the patch.

Main actions

With a tool, the hole is measured. After that, draw a similar figure on the spare piece of drywall. It is advisable to cut off the edges of this figure at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. This is where the correct hole shape comes in handy, so it’s easier to draw. Who did not bother with the alignment - circle the hole on the paper, and then transfer to drywall.

With a special knife, cut out the drawn. A large piece is easier to saw with a hacksaw. The patch is ready. After you need to attach it to the wall in the right place, circle the contours with a pencil. Some craftsmen use a nail, a self-tapping screw, a knife blade. It’s not very convenient - it’s hard to see, it’s likely to miss.

After the manipulations, you need to take wooden slats, measure the length 3-5 cm more than the hole. Saw off, insert into the holes and screw with screws to the load-bearing wall. Not to drywall, but to the base wall! This will be an additional support so that the patch does not fall inward.

A thin layer of gypsum or putty is applied to the cleaned edges of the hole, a patch is carefully applied and left to dry.For additional fixation, the replaced piece can be screwed to the rails with screws.

Tip. In order not to make a mistake with the dimensions, you need to often attach a patch to the hole. A precise fit is the key to success. The patch must go flush. An error of a couple of millimeters can ruin your plan. The repair piece simply will not lie flat and will stick out strongly above the surface.

Final stage

After drying, you can proceed to the finish. If all the measurements were accurate, then only subtle gaps will remain at the edges of the patch. Putty in 2 layers is put with a spatula in a thin layer, waiting for each to completely dry. At the end of the sandpaper, the irregularities are cleaned, the primer is applied and that’s all, the hole repair is finished, you can do cosmetic restoration.

But it happens that there were errors in the measurement, so the gaps remained very noticeable and deep. Then things get a little complicated. A thin layer of putty is applied to the place of sealing the hole. While it has not frozen, strips of thick paper coated with PVA glue are applied from above. Or take gauze cut into ribbons. The best option would be to use special fiberglass strips, the so-called serpyanka. You can buy it at any hardware store.

After complete drying of this layer, apply the second. If necessary, the procedure for applying putty with paper (gauze, syrup) is carried out up to three times. It’s not worth it anymore, as you get a decent thickness and an ugly humpback ledge above the wall surface. Grinding this matter will be long, tedious, difficult and dusty.

Tip. You can dilute the putty to a semi-liquid state, and then simply dip gauze strips into it and apply it to the wall. The resulting thickness is less than when applied with a spatula. And the strength of the attachment will remain.

When all layers are completely dry, you can do sanding. Do not do this with a special machine or grinder with an abrasive disc, because it is likely to remove more than required. It is much more reliable to control the process when it happens manually. Good old sandpaper and a small wooden block will help to perfectly level the surface. Finally, the patch is primed. Done, done.

Some tricks

To achieve the best result, there are several nuances.

1. Screws for fastening need to be taken from stainless steel. Then there will be no corrosion, no rust spots that are very difficult to cover.
2. In order for the plasterboard patch to be as accurate as possible in size, first cut the cardboard on both sides, the outer and the inside, with a sharp knife, and then crack the gypsum base with a sharp force.
3. For fastening to the rails, you can not use self-tapping screws, but special glue. Reliability of fastening does not suffer from this.
4. Do not try to push the patch into the hole with effort. Small cracks are easier to putty putty than to repair even more broken hole.
5. There were no wooden slats at hand? A suitable piece of plastic or the same drywall will completely replace the piece of wood.
6. With a small hole size, you can not use putty. Construction stores sell special synthetic putty. It is convenient to use, flexible, easy to grind.
7. If you stick paper tape, gauze, a sickle on PVA, then the mount will be almost monolithic.

These tips will help if the hole in the drywall is not too big. When half the wall is destroyed, then patches will not help. It's easier to change the sheet completely. But, if it was possible to resolve the issue on their own, with little loss - honor and praise plus new life experience in the treasury of knowledge.

Video: how to close a hole in drywall