GILROY — Whether caused by a swinging door or another accidental source, drywall is easily damaged. Luckily, it’s also fairly easy to repair. Using the following procedure, you can repair a damaged area of drywall in your home:
1. Cut out a square-shaped patch around the damaged area of drywall and remove it.
2. Cut a long, thin piece of plywood, place it behind the drywall and use a drill to screw it in at two points. This will serve as the backing for your new patch.
3. Cut out a piece from a drywall sheet that matches the size of the patch you removed. Using your drill, screw this piece into the plywood backing and fill in the gap in the drywall.
4. Use a joint knife to apply taping compound over the patched area.
5. Apply drywall tape to create a bond between the taping and topping compounds, which will reduce the chances for movement and cracking. After applying the tape, allow the taping compound to dry.
6. Apply your topping compound, which is like your drywall’s finish coat.
7. Blend the topping compound with the rest of the wall by feathering the edges. A good tool for doing this is a folded-up plastic bag with one side taped to form a handle. Remember, drywall mud is water-soluble, so if you’re not happy with the way it looks, you can wipe it off with a sponge and redo it.

How to Patch Drywall

Learn how to patch drywall with these step-by-step instructions. Use these expert tips to achieve a smooth, seamless finish.

How to Patch Drywall by Charles Irwin

By Charles Irwin of {BR} Irwin Construction Kitchen and Bath

Video: How to Patch Drywall

Below is the corrected video transcript:

If you have a damaged area of drywall in your home, you'll be glad to know it's pretty simple to repair. Today, we're in Gilroy with Diamond Certified expert contributor Charles Orwin of Irwin Construction to learn more.

Today, we're going to show a tip on how to do a drywall repair. I'm sure that you've had a doorknob or something that flies through the wall. You have a hole like this, maybe a little bit bigger from, you know, a door handle or something like that.

We're going to show you how to do a repair on that. What we'll do is we'll tape it, which is what this stage looks like. Then we'll top it, and then we'll feather in the edges with the sponge. Then we'll use something that you can make at home, basically a little plastic bag. You can use a ziplock or some Visqueen that you have laying around. Get some tape, tape up a handle on it so that you've got a little device, and you use this to dip in the mud and put the texture on the wall. 

And then that's what we're going to show you today. So the first step that we do is we cut out the patch and we put a plywood piece behind it. You can use a small stick, a paint stick, it's a little bit thin, something a little thicker than that, you know, half-inch, three-eighths maybe minimum, and put that behind the patch. 

We'll screw in our patch, then we will tape it using taping compound. What we're using today is a hot mud that dries in either 5, 15, 45, 60, or 90 minutes. I would not recommend using the five-minute unless you need to get the patch done quickly. We'll tape the patch, then you need to let it dry, and then you top it, and then you need to let that dry.

Then you come in with a sponge, you feather in the edges, and this is the biggest secret that people mess up on all the time, including professionals. You need to feather in the edges so that you can't see it after you're done painting.

You take the plastic bag that you made and you dab it into the pan, and then you just kind of speckle it onto the wall just like that. Let it dry just a little bit, maybe a minute, and then wipe it off with the trowel. If you notice that it's wiped off too much, scrape it off, start all over. All the mud is water-soluble, if you get any on the carpet, you get any on your hands, you're not happy with, dab on the wall, you can wipe it off with this sponge. 

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