Tips for Repairing a Large Hole in Drywall

This article explains how to repair a hole in drywall. Drywall, or plasterboard as it’s also known, is a popular material for finishing walls and ceiling in buildings. It is made of gypsum rock held between two sheets of card or thick paper and is relatively soft, which means it is quite easy to damage.

Small holes in it can be filled but a large hole requires a patch – removing the portion of damaged drywall and replacing it with a new piece. Here is the step-by-step process for installing such a patch, which will take a couple of days to complete.

You will need:
A new piece of drywall to use as a patch
A keyhole saw
Pencil
Sharp knife
Drywall compound
Putty knife
Sandpaper

1. Use a keyhole saw to cut out the damaged portion of wall. Cut out a crude square.

2. Cut a patch from the new piece of drywall. It needs to be 4 inches larger than the hole in the wall; so if the hole is a square with 6 inch sides, the patch needs to be a square with 10 inch sides.

3. Lie the patch face down and draw lines 2 inches in from each side. You should finish up with a tic-tac-toe pattern on the back of the patch, with the centre square being the same size as the hole in the wall.

4. Score along the lines, removing the rear paper and breaking off the gypsum rock, leaving the front sheet of paper in place. You will now have a piece of drywall which fits into the hole, but has a sheet of paper on the front with overlaps to the existing wall. The patch needs to be just slightly smaller than the hole will go into.

5. Apply plenty of drywall compound around the hole and on the inside of the edges. Push the patch into the hole and squeeze the excess compound out, using it to smooth down the paper onto the wall. At this point you need to be careful not to put pressure on to the patch otherwise it will be pushed into the wall, leaving a depression in the surface.

6. The patch must now be left to dry overnight.

7. Once dry, the patch can be sanded down to remove the high points. A second, very thin, layer of compound is then applied over the entire patch.

8. The patch is again left overnight to dry.

9. A final sanding down will be needed to produce a smooth finish, which can then be painted over.

The hole in the wall has now been patched and should look as good as new. The hardest part of a drywall repair is getting a smooth finish; the amount of mess on the rear of the wall is irrelevant because it will never be seen.

Written by Andrew Michaels as found on his site at Helium.

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