Drywall repair

This hole had to be cut to repair a water leak. It's easy to patch the hole since the piece of cut drywall was saved. (July 26, 2011)

Q. I've got several drywall defects in my home that must be repaired. A doorknob punched a hole in one spot, roughhousing children created another hole, and my husband stepped through the ceiling while in the attic. What are some tips you can share about repairing these holes. Is this really a do-it-yourself task, or should I call in a pro? --Susie P., Orlando, Fla.

A. You and tens of thousands of others have drywall defects. Drywall is a great building material, but it's not a durable substitute for plaster as plaster is basically a thin coating of rock on your walls. This is why drywall was affectionately given the name Sheetrock years ago. Too bad it's an impostor, as drywall is more like stiff clay in hardness.

There are countless right ways to make these repairs to your walls and ceilings. I've seen many inventions over the years at trade shows. All were created to aid in the repair of drywall. Some are ingenious, like the thin piece of aluminum that has holes in it and self-adhesive on one side. This would work perfectly for your doorknob hole.


One method that's worked great for me over the years is to cut a square or rectangular hole using a plunge saw, and then remove the jagged drywall. Be sure you look behind and around the hole for any wires, pipes or cables. You don't want to cut these with your saw, causing more problems.

Once you have the square hole cut, cut a slightly smaller piece of drywall. I suggest you make the repair piece 1/4 inch smaller in width and in height. This will give you a manageable gap of just 1/8 inch between the repair piece and the existing wallboard.

The trick is to fasten this repair piece, as there is rarely a wall stud where the hole was created. I like to take a piece of wood no thicker than 3/4 inch to use for the next step. I cut the piece of wood so it's 1 inch less in width of the hole and 6 inches longer than the height of the hole. Let's say the hole to be repaired is 3 inches square. This means I'd cut a piece of wood 2 inches wide by 9 inches long. Plywood works great for this job as it's not prone to splitting.

You'll need a screw gun or a drill with a Phillips bit in it. You'll also need about ten 1 1/4-inch coarse-thread drywall screws, assuming the drywall is 1/2-inch thick. The first thing is to screw one screw into the exact center of the piece of wood so that about 7/8-inch of the screw is still sticking out. You'll use this as a finger hold.



Remove the center screw you were using to hold the wood in place and then screw the small repair piece to the wood. For a small piece of drywall similar to our example of 3 by 3 inches, you'll only need two screws.



