All in all, I need help to fill this gap in the wall...

January 20, 2015 4:10 AM

I clumsily put my foot through the wall while I was attending to a smoke alarm/cooking/emergency. Laugh away. Photo here with playing card for size/perspective.

I would really like to avoid paying a handy-person to come out and fix it for me. Any advice? It cannot be that hard to get some wall/glue/putty and sand it back. I already have "whisper white" (wow, their website is not helpful).

Problem is I am not very handy at all. I really don't know my way around a hardware store - but I would like to change this. Any Mefites fixed a hole-in-the-wall problem care to help me out?

posted by evil_esto to Home & Garden (21 answers total)

What you're looking for is 'spackle' if you're in the US, or 'filler' in most other places. It'll either come ready-mixed or as a powder you mix with water. You'll also need a filler/spackle/putty knife (a wide flexible metal blade on a handle).

Remove any loose debris from the hole. Use a spray bottle or a damp sponge to slightly wet the area (it'll help the filler to adhere to the hole). Push your filler into the hole with the flat of the putty knife. The packet will tell you how deep a hole you can fill - if your hole is deeper than that, apply the filler in two stages, allowing it to dry in between. Use the knife to smooth the filler so that the result is a nice level surface, flush with the wall. Some fillers shrink a bit as they dry, so you might need to top up the hole with another millimeter or so of filler after it dries.

Don't over-fill the hole. The aim should be to finish with just a quick wipe with some sandpaper to tidy it up when it's all dry. Brush off any dust and give it a couple of days to completely dry before repainting.
posted by pipeski at 4:26 AM on January 20, 2015

Oh! This is pretty easy! There are lots of videos on You Tube showing how to patch and repair drywall/sheetrock. Here's a simple one from American retailer, Lowes.

This shows what you need and how to do it. You'll be sick at how easy this is.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 4:28 AM on January 20, 2015

Thanks pipeski and RB.

I need this stuff then?
posted by evil_esto at 4:35 AM on January 20, 2015

Nope. Something like this or this.
posted by pipeski at 4:49 AM on January 20, 2015

OK acknowledged
posted by evil_esto at 4:50 AM on January 20, 2015

Bring a picture to the hardware store and let the person there make the recommendations. For something that big, I'd forgo spackle and go straight to joint compound. But I used to buy the stuff in gallon buckets. I basically sculpted a wall out of the stuff.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 4:56 AM on January 20, 2015

Definitely super-easy. You just need to figure out if you're going to shove some filler into it or cover it with a patch and compound.

If the drywall in the hole is stable, you might be able to get away with filling it in ala pipeski's suggestion. That may not work, though, just due to the size of the hole. Or you may end up breaking off the rest of the drywall and having it fall into the inside of the wall, which will make it impossible to do a simple fill-in job. That's usually more for nail holes and such.

Best result would really be to use a drywall patch to allow joint compound to cover the hole. Whether you want to cut a hole out or just leave the drywall as-is and cover it is up to you. It might be hard to cut out the drywall if it's right on the corner. Definitely watch RB's Lowes link for more info on both methods and check out YouTube.

I've actually done the patch thing with a piece of plastic window screen mesh and some compound after my jerkass former roommate went on a crazed rampage in the living room. It worked really well.
posted by i feel possessed at 5:14 AM on January 20, 2015

I would cut away the loose material and cut a piece of drywall that can fit through the hole but will also be able top be glued in behind the original drywall. Put a hole through the middle of the extra piece of drywall and tie a small nail to a string and push it (the string) through the middle of the piece of drywall. You can then glue the drywall bit around the edges and push it through the hole and then pull on the string to glue the backing piece into place. Once that is in place use the fillers recommended to fill it in allowing for drying time and the fact that you shouldn't do more than half a centimeter or so in one go. Once it is slightly bulging out from the wall sand it down to the wall plane and paint it over with whatever you want.

I wouldn't just go straight in for the fill without putting a backing bit in as I think it would have less structural integrity, but I could also be wrong and it would work fine. I think that the major thing is if it is your house or is ti a rental and how much care you would want to invest in doing it right vs doing it good enough.
posted by koolkat at 5:14 AM on January 20, 2015

Some good tips for smaller holes above for sure. But spackle or light filler will take multiple fills and most likely will not result in the easy solution this DAP product has:
http://www.dap.com/product_details.aspx?BrandID=146&SubcatID=23

You can see the self adhesive patch included in the kit in the Lowes Video link Ruthless Bunny posted at around the 1:45 mark.

Everything is in it included to repair just the hole you have. This kit essentially covers the holes so the spackle included smooths the edges and your patch will be almost invisible.

It is about 10 dollars and will work great. Good luck!
posted by ashtray elvis at 5:17 AM on January 20, 2015

That's way too big for spackle alone. It will take forever for the middle to dry and it will create a depression as it does. The simplest solution is to start with a patch as mentioned above.
posted by humboldt32 at 5:39 AM on January 20, 2015

Patching is absolutely necessary if you want the wall to float level. Filling will not work for a big patch. That said, you can buy a patch kit that will have all you need.
posted by dejah420 at 5:53 AM on January 20, 2015

you don't want to do this with drywall compound/spackle... like the other said it will stay wet for days and crack.

however plaster patching compound... which is usually some variant of plaster of paris should work. it will probably take more than one application and you will need to use a plastic bucket and a plastic trowel.
posted by ennui.bz at 6:09 AM on January 20, 2015

For tools, you will want a joint knife, and sandpaper or a sanding block. Think of the joint knife as a large spatula, and the patching compound as icing.
posted by mr vino at 6:11 AM on January 20, 2015

I agree with the patch kit. A hole that large will not set correctly with just spackle or joint compound and will likely crack when drying. There are also patch kits available that simplify this whole process and come with easy to follow instructions. I recently repaired drywall damage similar to your photo and it worked great.
posted by Benway at 6:23 AM on January 20, 2015

Provided a filler is rated for use on that depth of the hole, you shouldn't have any problems at all with cracking or not drying. Most products will dry perfectly well provided you follow the instructions and don't try to fill a deep hole in a single pass. I've filled holes that size many times, and they've stood up to years of use with no sign of cracking or other failure.
posted by pipeski at 7:13 AM on January 20, 2015

I don't think that would be stable if you simply filled it with spackle or joint compound. You need a patch with a backer screwed through the surrounding drywall for the patch piece to attach to, then fill the joint and sand smooth.

It's going to be difficult to get it to be invisible in any case - this is the sort of thing that seems like it should be easy but isn't, hence professional drywall people.

Do you rent or own? If you rent and want your deposit back I recommend biting the bullet and hiring a professional.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 8:07 AM on January 20, 2015

Yeah the DAP patch kit ashtray elvis linked to should be perfect for a hole that size. That stuff is also great because it changes color to let you know when it's dry enough to sand down and paint over and it includes the plastic putty knife too.
posted by TwoWordReview at 8:59 AM on January 20, 2015

I did this for a bigger hole in our drywall.

I went to the hardware store and got a drywall saw, a few squares of drywall mesh, and some spackle. I sawed out a square shape around the hole. Then I cut a piece of drywall mesh to go over it, and spackled it down. When it dried I came back and smoothed everything over with more spackle, then painted. Had i cared to do a very nice job I would have cut a drywall patch to fit under the mesh, but I just wanted it to look all right again.

It's very easy. I did learn how to install drywall at a Level 1 kind of level at one of my old jobs, but you don't need special skill for this. You can do the thing.
posted by Miko at 2:15 PM on January 20, 2015

Drywall "hot patch" requires a small piece of drywall (sold at the big box stores in small pieces for just such an occasion), a small container of ready mixed joint compound, a utility knife, a drywall compound spreader of some fashion or another, and some sandpaper. Call it less than 20 bux worth of stuff if you don't have any of it to begin with.

Very easy to do.
posted by rudd135 at 5:11 PM on January 20, 2015

Thanks everyone. Off to the hardware store tomorrow. I'll let you know I go.

BTW I am a long-term multi-lease and multi-year renter with a good relationship with the landlord. Both the managing agent and the actual owner. If I didn't fix this all they would want is for me to fix it. I just dont feel like explaining my drunken/cooking exploits when they routinely 12 month inspect in a fortnights time.
posted by evil_esto at 2:38 AM on January 23, 2015

I think I will try the reinforcing then filler option.

I also broke my toe! Maybe another question...
posted by evil_esto at 2:40 AM on January 23, 2015