How To Repair Corner Of Wall Damage

If yous find yourself staring at damaged walls and ceilings in your home, it might be fourth dimension for a little TLC and an update. The interiors of most homes are covered with gypsum wallboard, which is commonly known as drywall, or by its merchandise name, Sheetrock. Drywall is durable to a caste, but it can merely take so much earlier you starting time to see holes, cracks, and dents—especially if you've got toddlers or pets running around.

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Fortunately, most drywall damage tin exist repaired quickly and easily. All you lot demand are some bones tools, the right materials, and a few tricks of the trade. This step-by-step DIY guide will testify you how to repair drywall—from doorknob impairment, to cracks under the window, all the way to saggy ceilings—just kickoff, nosotros need to go over some condom measures.

⚒️ Tips To Stay Safe While You Repair Drywall

1) Lift Carefully. When patching extensive damage, it'south best to buy full iv-by-eight pes sheets of drywall, and then cut them down to size equally needed. Only, be brash that a full canvass of standard 1/ii-inch drywall weighs nigh 54 pounds.

Drywall sheets are awkward to lift and conduct, and then you'll want to avoid straining your back. If possible, always work with a helper and remember to lift with your knees, not your back. As well, be careful when leaning drywall sheets against stuff. If a canvass should fall over, information technology could severely injure someone, especially a child or pet.

2) Empty Saucepan Alert. Premixed joint compound comes in various size buckets, which are handy to use around the business firm and yard once they're empty. However, 5-gallon buckets pose a serious threat to toddlers. The buckets are only the right height that if a small child leans over the edge, they tin tumble in headfirst and find themselves unable to scramble out. Therefore, if yous use the bucket for carrying water, never leave the bucket unattended, even if it's holding only a few inches of h2o. And, never leave buckets outdoors where they can fill with rainwater, creating a potential drowning adventure.

If you use the buckets primarily for carrying and storing tools, gardening supplies, and other dry goods, eliminate the possibility of a child drowning by drilling drainage holes through the side and bottom of the bucket.

3) Clean Up the Dust. Making drywall repairs typically requires sanding joint compound to produce a smooth, unblemished surface. Even so, joint compound dust is a respiratory irritant that contains super-fine gypsum and silica particulates. When sanding joint compound, always wear a dust mask, or improve yet, a dual-cartridge respirator, to protect your lungs.

It's also a practiced thought to spread a drib fabric on the floor where yous're sanding. When done sanding, wipe the dust off the drop cloth with a damp sponge, then clean the surrounding areas with a shop vacuum fitted with a HEPA filter. Once the air has settled, cease up by vacuuming. This two-step cleaning is necessary because nearly household vacuums can't capture super-fine sanding grit, and will only blow it back into the air.

Common Drywall Tools

⚒️ Know What Compound You Demand

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The two about common types of premixed drywall compounds—also known as spackle—are lightweight and all-purpose. The lightweight product weighs nearly one-tertiary less than all-purpose, it dries more quickly, and takes less effort to sand smooth. All-purpose compound dries harder and typically costs less.

Both types are easy to apply and have a shelf life at room temperature of about 9 months. If you have drywall damage in several rooms, buy a 5-gallon bucket of compound. For smaller repairs, something similar this will suffice.

Note that dry out-mix joint compound is also available, which comes in powder grade. It must be mixed with water to the proper consistency prior to awarding. Dry-mix compound is more affordable than the pre-mixed varieties, just pre-mix compound is easier and quicker to use for DIY repairs.

⚒️ Problem one: Doorknob Damage

Step 1: 1 of the most common drywall repairs occurs when a door is swung open a fiddling likewise forcefully and the doorknob punches a hole through the drywall. The simplest way to fix the hole is with a pare-and-stick repair patch. The patch consists of an adhesive-backed aluminum screen that's reinforced by fiberglass mesh. Simply peel off the protective backing and press the patch over the pigsty.

Step ii: Use a four- or six-inch-wide drywall knife to apply articulation compound over the patch. Be certain to apply enough pressure to force the compound through the mesh. Later on the chemical compound dries, sand lightly and apply a second, thinner glaze of compound, making sure to extend it a few inches beyond the first coat. Repeat a third and final time. When dry out, sand lightly, then prime and paint.

⚒️ Problem 2: Crumpled Corner Bead

Step 1: When two sheets of drywall run across at an outside wall corner, they're protected by an Fifty-shaped metallic strip called a corner bead. Corner bead is nailed over the corner and so concealed by two or three layers of articulation compound. Metal corner bead is pretty tough stuff, but it'due south non indestructible. Information technology tin get dented through any number of activities, including run-ins with the vacuum cleaner, a child flinging a toy, or when moving article of furniture. The good news is that, ordinarily, merely a pocket-size section of the corner bead gets damaged, making the repair much simpler.

Begin past using a hacksaw to cutting through the corner dewdrop approximately two inches above and below the damaged section. Next, take a utility knife and cut along each vertical border of the corner dewdrop, making sure yous piece through the paint and articulation compound.

Step ii: Pry the severed piece of corner bead from the wall using a thin pry bar and straight-bract screwdriver. Effort not to damage the surrounding drywall surfaces. Now, use aviation snip to cut a new piece of corner bead to replace the damaged section.

Step 3: Set the new slice into place and fasten it with 1½-inch-long drywall nails, which have very thin, flat heads that are easier to conceal with joint compound than drywall screws.

Step 4: Apply 2 to three coats of articulation compound, making sure to sand between coats. Spread the last coat with an eight-inch drywall knife. When done, prime and paint to match the walls.

⚒️ Problem 3: Creeping Cracks

Step ane: Vertical drywall cracks will ofttimes appear above and below windows and doors. These hairline cracks are usually caused past lumber shrinkage and settling in the house frame. To repair the cracks, start past using a sanding sponge to sand the crack smooth. After sanding, vacuum the crevice to remove all loose dust and debris.

Step two: Next, use a narrow putty knife to apply a thin glaze of joint compound to the crack. Wait for it to dry, and so sand it shine. Repeat, applying a second thin coat.

Step 3: To dissuade the crack from reappearing, spray the repair with a thin coating of rubberband crack comprehend-up, such as Good-Bye Cracks.

⚒️ Problem four: Nails That Go Pop

Stride 1: Blast and spiral pops are likewise acquired by lumber shrinkage. To fix a popped nail or screw, beginning by twisting the tip of a utility knife into the wall to carve away the joint compound from the fastener caput.

Step ii: Use a screwdriver to tighten the spiral, driving it well below the surface. If it's a popped boom, utilise a hammer and nail fix to tap information technology in deeper. If information technology feels as if the nail isn't hitting solid wood, yank it out with pliers and drive in a drywall screw, making sure you hit the center of the wall stud or ceiling joist.

Step 3: Hide the repair using a drywall knife to apply 3 sparse coats of lightweight joint compound. Sand betwixt coats, so prime and paint.

⚒️ Trouble 5: Saggy Textured Ceilings

Step 1: Water harm will usually stain a drywall ceiling, merely in some extreme cases, the drywall volition really sag downwardly from the joists. This is a particularly tricky repair on a textured ceiling. Start by using a mitt-sanding pad equipped with a sanding screen to remove the texture and smooth out the area.

Step 2: Adjacent, press the drywall up tight against the joist and secure it along the seam with drywall nails or screws driven into the center of the joist.

Step iii: Water stains will often bleed through standard primer. To forestall the stains from reappearing, castor on a coat of primer that is specifically formulated to block out the toughest stains.

Step iv: To blend in the repaired area with the surrounding textured ceiling, use a thick-nap roller to apply a thick mixture of drywall compound, thinned with a little water.

Step 5: Before the thinned drywall compound dries, add together texture to the ceiling with a short-handled castor. If your ceiling has a popcorn texture, attempt concealing the repair with popcorn texture in a spray can.

⚒️ Trouble 6: Loose Within-Corner Tape

Step i: Seams between sheets of drywall are subconscious behind paper drywall tape and several thin layers of joint compound. Occasionally, the paper tape will pull loose and pare up, particularly in bathrooms where the tape is repeatedly exposed to hot, moist air. And this trouble often occurs at within wall corners.

While information technology'south tempting to simply glue down loose tape, it's all-time to cut it out with a utility pocketknife and replace it with a new piece of tape. After cut away the loose tape, utilise a thin bed of drywall compound to each wall in the corner.

Footstep two: Next, cut a new slice of paper tape to length, fold it lengthwise along its center crease, and press it into the wet joint compound.

Step 3: You tin press the tape into the compound and smooth it out with a four-inch knife, but using an inside-corner pocketknife makes the job much easier. This specialty tool smooths both sides of the inside corner at the aforementioned time.

⚒️ Problem seven: Patching Large Holes

Stride ane: To repair a big pigsty in drywall, first draw a square outline around the hole using a 24-inch level. As you mark the iv lines, be sure to center one vertical line on the center of a wall stud.

Step 2: Cut three sides of the foursquare using a drywall saw, which is too chosen a jab saw because you offset cutting past jabbing the saw's pointed tip through the drywall. Lift abroad the debris as you cut to keep information technology from falling into the wall cavity.

Step 3: Remove the drywall on the remaining side of the outline by using a utility pocketknife to cutting downward the center of the stud.

Pace 4: Cut a one-by-four foot pine board half dozen to eight inches longer than the foursquare opening in the wall. Clasp some construction agglutinative onto the ends of the board.

Footstep v: Sideslip the one-by-iv into the pigsty with the glued surface facing the back of the drywall. Position the board then information technology extends into the opening by at least 1½ inches. Secure the board with 2 clamps.

Pace 6: After the agglutinative dries, cutting a drywall patch to loosely fit into the hole. Utilise some construction adhesive to the exposed surface of the i-by-four, so printing the patch into place and secure it to the stud and to the one-past-four backing lath with one¼-inch drywall screws.

Step seven: Wipe down the wall and drywall patch with a slightly dampened sponge to remove any dust. Next, apply adhesive-backed fiberglass mesh drywall tape over the four seams of the patch. Overlap the tape at the corners for maximum strength, and center each piece directly over a seam. Firmly press downwards the tape for expert adhesion.

Stride eight: Use a four-inch drywall knife to employ the first layer of articulation compound over the tape. Let the chemical compound to dry out overnight.

Step nine: Smooth the stale compound with a paw-sanding pad fitted with a sanding screen.

Step 10: Use an eight-inch pocketknife to utilize several skim coats of joint compound over the repair, making each ane slightly larger than the preceding one. Sand the terminal coat smooth with 220-grit sandpaper. Finish past rolling on a coat of primer, followed by 2 topcoats of paint. And note that, in some cases, it might exist necessary to paint the entire wall to ensure the patch is undetectable.