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Published February 01, 2017
If you own a home, odds are very good that the walls (and ceilings) surrounding you are made of drywall. Also called Sheetrock, plasterboard, or wallboard, drywall was invented in 1916 and quickly caught on, since it was relatively cheap and easy to erect. The downside? Even today, it's pretty easily damaged from random bumps by heavy furniture or leaky pipes behind walls.
So if your own walls have major dents or blemishes, you might be wondering how to repair drywall. Is it easy, or better left to a pro?
While a professional contractor is better for putting up new walls or doing major repairs, many say that repairing drywall can be a DIY job -- at least, with some guidance. So strap on your tool belt and check out these steps to learn how to repair drywall yourself.
For small repairs…
For small holes (meaning less than a centimeter wide and deep, like nail pops or picture hook damage), you can fill them with plaster paste. You can buy this at the local hardware store, where it may be called spackling paste, joint compound, or mud.
If you're new to drywall repair, select a spackling compound that dries in about 45 minutes, which will give you time to make and correct spreading mistakes, says Luis Perez, owner of Primary Colors, a drywall and painting company in Falls Church, VA. Then try the following steps:
For large repairs…
If the hole is big (meaning more than a centimeter wide or deep), you'll need to cut a patch of drywall from scrap, or buy a pre-cut patch. Then take the following steps:
Hide your handiwork
Once everything's filled or patched, you'll want to paint over it to hide your repair.
"The trick is to make the repair look like it never happened," says Luis Perez, owner of Primary Colors, a drywall and painting company in Falls Church, VA. "With a bad repair, you can see bumps, especially when the lights are on."
Paint small repairs with a touch-up brush, feathering the edges of the patch so it blends with the wall. However, if you have a large patch or several repairs, you'll have to repaint the entire wall to keep the color entirely uniform.
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Watch: Do You Need to Remodel Before You Sell?
https://www.foxnews.com/real-estate/how-to-repair-drywall-a-homeowners-guide