Are you looking for a more fool proof way to repair your drywall hole? Let’s work through this list of tips together. While we can help with the drywalling portion. It’s the Mudding/taping that’s tough. This is more of an art than a trade and requires years of practice before one can consistently feather out patches with easy and precision. Should you decide you want to do the drywall portion and leaving the taping to the professionals, a Drywall Contractor such as PatchBoyz can help.
In this article we’ll explore different tips for the drywalling portion of a drywall repair.
Tip #1 – Low profile backing
Before placing a new piece of drywall in the hole that you’ve cut out around the damage, you must install backing. Otherwise, the drywall will go straight through the hole and fall to the bottom, leaving it irretrievable.
If you have insulation in that wall, 2×4 can be hard to fit back there without compromising the insulation or the vapour barrier. In this case, we recommend either using a low profile wood such as 1×3 strapping (used for mounting drywall to ceiling), or metal framing. Either a piece of resilient channel or metal stud bent to create a flat profile. When you’re inserting it in, be careful not to tear your vapour barrier. Should you be worried about doing so, tape the end of the metal with duct, tuck, or painters tape.
Tip #2 – 86 the surrounding drywall, keep the paper
This method allows you to keep more of the paper facing of the drywall. The benefit of doing this is that your cracks will be well covered, regardless of your drywall cutting skills. And, if your hole is small enough, YOU DON’T EVEN NEED ANY BACKING. We usually don’t use this method as we offer warranties with our work and if this fails, we’re responsible. But there are times where we need to use this method due to obstructions behind.
The execution of this trick is quite simple. Measure the hole you’ve cut in your drywall to remove the damaged piece. Then when you go to trace your new piece on the new drywall, are you ready for it?… Trace it on the back side of the drywall. This is the brown side, we’re speaking of. Trace, break and peel off the drywall from the front paper, leaving you a 1” overlap of front paper. Now when you go to place it in the hole, you can butter 2” from the damage out, and then place your piece in. Make sure you pre fit the piece to make sure it fits. Pull it out, butter the wall and then insert it into its final resting place.
Tip #3 – Multiple pieces of plastic
When you lay your floor protection, which is usually plastic or paper. Place 2 pieces down and kep your tools and supplies on a separate piece right at the perimeter of your workspace. Assuming you’re a new mudder/taper, you’re going to drop some mud. Okay let’s be honest; you’re going to drop a lot of mud. Once you’ve finished the mudding portion of the job, remove that initial piece of floor protection and get rid of it. This will give you a clean slate to work on and minimize the chances of you stepping in it and spreading the mess throughout the house if you have to run to help Johnny get his tongue off the frozen bumper.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list, this should get you started on your way to becoming an acceptable amateur mudder. Remember that his is more of an art than a trade. And with both, whether an art or a trade, you have to learn an practice. The internet and presence of YouTube in particular is a blessing. You can find almost any video you need for any drywalling or taping situation you may find yourself in. Should you be stuck, however, feel free to reach out to us, either for our services or for advice. We love talking drywall with our clients and friends alike.
On average a really good taper has been in the business for 7+ years. Different people learn at different rates, of course. But 7 Years, from our experience seems to be when unconscious competence seems to have kicked in. Unconscious competence is when you’re so good that you don’t even think about what you’re doing and could even be on the phone while executing. You could say it’s become second nature. Kind of like driving a car.
Very nice & informative trick….