Repairing drywall....made easy. Yes, you can do this. Repairing drywall isn't like rocket science but there are a few things you need to "know" . Repairing your drywall can be easy & turn out great or it can be your worst nightmare. Here's what you need to "know" :
* When repairing drywall, it's important to take your time & do it right. Make sure you carefully cut out the damaged sheetrock/drywall repair area. Take note that you may not be able to see everything inside the existing wall before repairing the drywall & removing the damaged drywall......like existing wiring, plumbing pipes, telephone lines, etc..
* When starting your repairing drywall project, can you imagine if you cut an existing electrical wire or a water line? Your little repairing drywall project now becomes something bigger than you could've ever imagined....especially if you don't "know" anything about repairing electrical wiring or have to call in a plumbing professional to clean up your "mess" you may have just caused yourself, not to mention the water damage, etc., etc..
* Even if you do "know" how to complete electrical & plumbing repairs, that wasn't part of the repairing drywall project, now was it? This was suppose to be a quick easy job that you could complete in a very swift turn-around. It wasn't suppose to cause "major surgery"! This was a repairing drywall project...nothing more....nothing less.
* This is why some do-it-yourselfers are gun shy when it comes to repairing drywall. Yes, there are horror stories out there but they are out there for you to learn from, not add to! It's not a race when you are removing the sheetrock. Take your time. It will "save" you time in the long run...in more ways than one....$$$.
* There's a "knack" to repairing drywall. Slowly cut the damaged drywall to be removed. Take out a square area of sheetrock & shine a light inside the wall, to see what's inside, before cutting anymore drywall. This process takes a little longer than making all of your cuts at the same time then pulling the drywall down, but you'll be glad you did.
* Using a dull sheetrock saw, when repairing drywall, is also a good idea, in case you nick an electrical wire, etc.. You may not go all the way through the outside sheathing of the romex wiring before "feeling it" with a dull sheetrock saw. Do not saw too fast & try to let your hands "feel" for the unforseen. You are now a "ninja".
* You also will want to be very careful when repairing drywall, if you are using an electric sawzall, as it is difficult to know if you are cutting any unwanted "creatures" in the wall.....especially if you are cutting down next to an existing wood stud in the wall....as you can easily cut anything in the way since there is no "give" in electrical wires or plumbing lines. You can cut through these like "butter" without even knowing it.
* When repairing drywall, if you are needing to install wood backing in the existing wall, make sure you measure the existing wood studs. A "new" standard wood 2x4 stud is normally 3 1/2" wide (sometimes just a hair larger than this) when purchased, as most new 2x4 studs are still wet & have not cured yet. All of this moisture in the new studs give the new "wood" a tendency to expand just a bit than when the studs are dry & cured, since they have a tendency to shrink.
* Depending on how old your existing 2x4 studs are, will determine their actual size at the time of repairing your drywall. I've seen some wood studs as small as 3 5/16" overall. Most of the average size studs I've seen, have been a little less than 3 1/2" & sometimes 3 3/8". Do you see where I'm going with this?
* If you are not watching it, you may unknowingly "cram" a new 3 1/2" wood stud in an existing wall cavity that is 3 3/8" maybe smaller (depending on how old the home is). If you do this, when repairing the drywall, your new wood stud backing may have a tendency to stick out thereby making your same size drywall poke out further than the existing drywall. Now you have a bump in the wall....literally. If it doesn't bump out, you may have just cracked the other side of your wall or popped some nails...what do you think about that?
* Before repairing the drywall, it may be necessary to "shave" the new wood stud backing down, so it will fit in the wall. See what I mean? This may take a little bit of work, as you need to "rip" down the side of the new wood backing with a skilsaw, but this separates the men from the boys!
**News Flash** Here's the crux of the "story" right here. Pay attention now:
* Spending extra time on repairing your drywall patch, should be foremost in your mind, as what you are trying to achieve is to match the existing conditions so you can't see the patch when you get done. Once you have achieved this "thought process", the rest falls into place. This is what alot of do-it-yourselfers forget yet "this" (thought process) is the most important part of the project!
* When repairing drywall, make sure you use the proper sheetrock size for your replacement "patch". Once you cut & remove the damaged drywall, it can sometimes be difficult to tell what the actual size of the drywall is. Sometimes 1/2" sheetrock looks & measures out to be 5/8" sheetrock if you are measuring the side where you have just cut & removed from...but if you carefully press down the cut area, you may see that the actual size is different than what you "thought" you "were" going to use.
* Now......double check your measurement so you purchase & install the proper size drywall to your repairing area as your new drywall patch area does not want to extend out further than the existing surrounding wall area. Measure twice.....buy & install the right material once!
That's it for this time. Read this post a few times & get it "lodged" into your head before tackling your repairing drywall project. You'll be glad you did. Now you "know" .
Here's some great tips for painting your drywall repair area
Patch On!
VideoJoeKnows
Showing posts with label patch drywall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patch drywall. Show all posts
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Drywall patch.....what material do I use?
Drywall patch....what material do I use? Good question. When I patch drywall, I use a material product called "quickset". The actual drywall patch material is not called that at the store though.
The reason why you would want to use this drywall patch product (quickset), rather than regular wet style drywall mud, is because wet drywall mud will shrink between coats & the shrinking process lasts all the way through the necessary drying time between coats & it usually takes a day (between coats) for this type of mud to properly dry between coats so you cannot complete your drywall patch project in 1 day (depending on how large your patch is).
The drywall patch material is located near the sheetrock/drywall area & you will see white bags of dry material with different numbers on them ie. 5, 20, 30, 45, & 90. You're looking at the right drywall patch bags. This drywall patch material is a fast drying non-shrinking drywall patch material thus its better known name of "quickset".
The associated number on the bag will tell you how long it will take for the drywall patch material to harden so you can then apply another coat of drywall patch material over it. These numbers mean minutes, so the 5 will mean that is how many minutes (5 minutes) it will take before you can apply another coat,etc..
If you have a smallish drywall patch/hole to cover, I would recommend something like the 30 minute or 45 minute quickset (if this is the first time you will be using the drywall patch product). I myself would generally use the 20 minute drywall patch material/quickset but I've used the product alot & know how it will respond,etc..
This drywall patch material comes in a dry form as you will need to mix the patch material in water before applying it to your wall. Mix the drywall patch material in a drywall pan with a 3" drywall putty knife. Start out with only putting a little of the drywall patch material in your pan to start off with (you don't want to mix up too much the first couple of times until you get use to this drywall patch material & how it goes on the wall,etc.).
It's also important to realize that if you get the drywall patch material that says 30 on it (for example), that doesn't mean you have 30 minutes to apply the drywall patch material to your wall. You will only have a certain amount of time to apply this drywall patch material to your wall patch. Mix up a little & you will see what I mean.
I would say you have maybe 6 or 7 minutes to apply the product to your wall (this is apprx. as the time may differ from batch to batch you mix up depending on how much water you put in). It also depends on how much you mix up in your pan & how big your drywall patch areas are. The quicker you put it on the wall, the better.
Use this drywall patch material for your taping & first coat of topping only. You do not want to apply your skin/skim coat (last coat) with this drywall patch product. I would recommend you using the regular mud, all purpose or topping sheetrock mud for your skim coat.
You want to apply a thin layer (skim coat) of "all purpose" or "topping" mud over your drywall patch material at your drywall patch on the wall. Your all purpose &/or topping mud are the "wet" drywall mud products you will find at the hardware store near the sheetrock/drywall materials area.
It's important to realize that no matter how smooth you apply the drywall patch material (quickset), you do NOT want to paint over it. If that's the only thing you remember from this article/post, you can put a gold star by your name. The reason is this:
The drywall patch material (quickset) is a very pourous material & when it dries, it will never accept paint the same as everything else on your wall. You will see the drywall patch & it will stick out like a sore thumb, no matter how smooth of a job you did.
That's why you have to apply the "all purpose" or "topping" drywall material (better known as mud) over the drywall patch material (quickset) in order for your paint to blend in to the rest of the paint on your wall(s). You call this last coat the skim coat because it's a very thin layer applied over the topping layer.
So let's review: You will use three layers of mud to your drywall patch. The first layer is the tape layer...that is the first coat of drywall patch material you will be using for your patch (to put your tape on with). Then you will apply a topping coat using the drywall patch material for this coat....this is the overall 2nd coat. You then will apply a skim coat (last of 3 coats) using wet all purpose or topping mud. So you will have 3 coats of mud ie. tape, top, & skim for a total of 3.
Try this drywall patch material & I think you will find it easier to patch your drywall patches!
Click here to get some free video painting tips for your drywall patch
Patch On!
VideoJoeKnows
The reason why you would want to use this drywall patch product (quickset), rather than regular wet style drywall mud, is because wet drywall mud will shrink between coats & the shrinking process lasts all the way through the necessary drying time between coats & it usually takes a day (between coats) for this type of mud to properly dry between coats so you cannot complete your drywall patch project in 1 day (depending on how large your patch is).
The drywall patch material is located near the sheetrock/drywall area & you will see white bags of dry material with different numbers on them ie. 5, 20, 30, 45, & 90. You're looking at the right drywall patch bags. This drywall patch material is a fast drying non-shrinking drywall patch material thus its better known name of "quickset".
The associated number on the bag will tell you how long it will take for the drywall patch material to harden so you can then apply another coat of drywall patch material over it. These numbers mean minutes, so the 5 will mean that is how many minutes (5 minutes) it will take before you can apply another coat,etc..
If you have a smallish drywall patch/hole to cover, I would recommend something like the 30 minute or 45 minute quickset (if this is the first time you will be using the drywall patch product). I myself would generally use the 20 minute drywall patch material/quickset but I've used the product alot & know how it will respond,etc..
This drywall patch material comes in a dry form as you will need to mix the patch material in water before applying it to your wall. Mix the drywall patch material in a drywall pan with a 3" drywall putty knife. Start out with only putting a little of the drywall patch material in your pan to start off with (you don't want to mix up too much the first couple of times until you get use to this drywall patch material & how it goes on the wall,etc.).
It's also important to realize that if you get the drywall patch material that says 30 on it (for example), that doesn't mean you have 30 minutes to apply the drywall patch material to your wall. You will only have a certain amount of time to apply this drywall patch material to your wall patch. Mix up a little & you will see what I mean.
I would say you have maybe 6 or 7 minutes to apply the product to your wall (this is apprx. as the time may differ from batch to batch you mix up depending on how much water you put in). It also depends on how much you mix up in your pan & how big your drywall patch areas are. The quicker you put it on the wall, the better.
Use this drywall patch material for your taping & first coat of topping only. You do not want to apply your skin/skim coat (last coat) with this drywall patch product. I would recommend you using the regular mud, all purpose or topping sheetrock mud for your skim coat.
You want to apply a thin layer (skim coat) of "all purpose" or "topping" mud over your drywall patch material at your drywall patch on the wall. Your all purpose &/or topping mud are the "wet" drywall mud products you will find at the hardware store near the sheetrock/drywall materials area.
It's important to realize that no matter how smooth you apply the drywall patch material (quickset), you do NOT want to paint over it. If that's the only thing you remember from this article/post, you can put a gold star by your name. The reason is this:
The drywall patch material (quickset) is a very pourous material & when it dries, it will never accept paint the same as everything else on your wall. You will see the drywall patch & it will stick out like a sore thumb, no matter how smooth of a job you did.
That's why you have to apply the "all purpose" or "topping" drywall material (better known as mud) over the drywall patch material (quickset) in order for your paint to blend in to the rest of the paint on your wall(s). You call this last coat the skim coat because it's a very thin layer applied over the topping layer.
So let's review: You will use three layers of mud to your drywall patch. The first layer is the tape layer...that is the first coat of drywall patch material you will be using for your patch (to put your tape on with). Then you will apply a topping coat using the drywall patch material for this coat....this is the overall 2nd coat. You then will apply a skim coat (last of 3 coats) using wet all purpose or topping mud. So you will have 3 coats of mud ie. tape, top, & skim for a total of 3.
Try this drywall patch material & I think you will find it easier to patch your drywall patches!
Click here to get some free video painting tips for your drywall patch
Patch On!
VideoJoeKnows
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