How to seal a hole in drywall: useful tips

How to fix a hole in drywall? You can, of course, do as Uncle Fyodor's mother from a famous cartoon - hang a picture. Easy, simple, fast. But sometimes a hole appears in a place where the picture is not needed, for example, on the ceiling, in the corner. Or the size of the hole is too large. Wallpapering is also not an option. They may shrink or sag. And not every plasterboard wall is under wallpaper. Decorative plaster will not help here either.

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

Required tools

If in drywall there is a hole from a screw or a nail, then you only need a spatula, putty, sandpaper, a pair of hands. Dilute, cover, allow to dry, clean - ready.

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

• Pencil for marking.Even a nail will do, as long as the marks can be seen.
• Ruler, tape measure, even a simple thread - to measure.
• Special knife for cutting drywall. An ordinary hacksaw is fine.
• Putty and trowel.
• 2 pieces of wooden slats, slightly larger than the hole.
• Multiple screws, screwdriver or screwdriver. May not be useful, but let them be.
• Stripes of thick paper, gauze or special tape - serpyanki.
• A piece of drywall. Better a few. The size of a little more than a hole.
• PVA glue.
• Enthusiasm and desire to work a little bit.

Not all of the above will need to be used, but it is better to err than to rush to the shops or to beg for neighbors.

Beginning of work

If there are cracks, then you need to slightly expand them with a special knife.They also need to clean the hole if the hole arose from water. Soaked drywall can not be restored. Therefore, damage is completely cut off to a solid base. Then the perimeter is grinded at an angle. 45 degrees is perfect.

Council 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 a patch.

Basic actions

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

Cut a knife with a special knife. It is easier to cut a big piece with a hacksaw. The patch is ready. After you have to attach it to the wall in the right place, circle the contours with a pencil. Some craftsmen use a nail, screw, knife blade. This is not very convenient - it is hard to see, there is a high probability of missing.

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

A thin layer of plaster or putty is applied on the cleaned edges of the hole, a patch is gently applied and left to dry. For additional fixation, the replaced piece can be fastened with screws to the slats.

Council In order not to be mistaken with the dimensions, it is necessary to apply the patch to the hole more often. Exact fit is the key to success. The patch should go flush. An error of a few millimeters can spoil the plan. The repair piece simply will not lie flat and will strongly stick out above the surface.

Final stage

After drying, you can proceed to the finish. If all measurements were accurate, then only barely noticeable gaps will remain around the edges of the patch. A thin layer of spatula put putty in 2 layers, waiting for the complete drying of each. At the end of an emery paper, they smooth out irregularities, apply a primer and everything, the repair of the hole is finished, you can make a cosmetic restoration.

But it happens that errors occurred in the measurement, so the gaps remained very noticeable and deep. Then it gets a bit more complicated. In place of sealing holes put a thin layer of putty. While it is not frozen, on top of it are applied strips of thick paper, smeared with white glue. Or take the gauze cut by tapes. The best option would be to use special strips of fiberglass, the so-called serpyanka. You can buy it at any hardware store.

After complete drying of this layer, put the second. If necessary, the procedure of applying putty with paper (gauze, serpyanka) is carried out up to three times. No longer worth it, as it turns out a decent thickness and an ugly humpback ledge above the surface of the wall. To sand this business will be long, tedious, difficult and dusty.

Council You can dilute the filler to a semi-liquid state, and then just dip gauze stripes into it and apply it to the wall. The result is a thickness smaller than when applied with a spatula. And the fastening strength will remain.

When all the layers are completely dry, you can do sanding. You should not do it with a special machine or grinder with an abrasive disc, because it is likely to remove more than is required. It is much more reliable to control the process when it happens manually.Good old sandpaper and a small wooden bar will help to perfectly level the surface. At the end of the patch is covered with a primer. Done, it's done.

Some tricks

To achieve the best result, there are several nuances.

1. Self-tapping screws must be taken from stainless steel. Then there will be no corrosion, there will be no rust spots that are very difficult to cover.
2. In order to make the plasterboard patch as accurate as possible in size, first the cardboard is cut from both sides — external and internal — with a sharp knife, and then with a sharp, strong pressing, the gypsum base is cracked.
3. For fastening to the rails, you can use not special screws, but special glue. Reliability of fastening will not suffer from it.
4. Do not try to push the patch into the hole with effort. Small gaps are easier to coat with putty than to repair an even more broken hole.
5. There were no wooden slats at hand? A suitable piece of plastic or the same drywall completely replace the wood.
6. With a small hole size, you can not use putty. In the building stores sold special synthetic putty.It is convenient to use, plastic, easy to sand.
7. If the paper tape, gauze, serpyanku stick on the PVA, the mount will be almost monolithic.

These tips will help if the hole in drywall is not overly huge. When half of the wall is destroyed, the patches will not help. Simply change the sheet completely. But if it was possible to resolve the issue on their own, with small losses, honor and praise, plus a new life experience in the treasury of knowledge.

Video: how to fix a hole in drywall