Hi, everyone! This video’s going to show you how to fix a large hole in the wall. So
if you’ve got a large whole that’s maybe more than 6”x6”, maybe it’s from an
old vanity that you had to remove, or somebody decided to play Mike Tyson’s “Punch Out”
with the wall, this video’s going to help you out with that specific problem. So hold
on tight. I’ve got a lot of great tips for you. I think you’re going to like them.
Let’s get to it. So here’s the big hole on the wall that
I need to fix. I actually created this because I needed to install a pedestal sink. And I
need to put some back-blocking in using plywood. I’m marking the depth of the plywood on
the studs because I need to put some blocking in that’s set back a little bit so I can
put that piece of blocking in the stud bay. I’m showing you the decking screws I’m
going to be using to patch the blocking and the drill bit. The drill bit is about the
same width as the deck screw. So I’m attaching those pieces of block using my impact driver.
And if you need an extension bit, you can do that, especially if you’re in a tight
space like me. So I needed to put those pieces of blocking
back. Set them back about ¾” and also, because of the tight space, I had to angle—you
may have to do this, too—I had to angle the decking screws so that I could reach them
within the stud bay. So as you can see here, I’ve got my back-block
in at ¾” plywood, that is, and just attaching it to the pieces of scrap wood that I put
on the studs using those deck screws. So for large holes, what you want to do is
find the largest opening. So in this case, it’s right here. It’s about 9” tall.
And the opening, it is about 27” wide. So take that dimension and cut yourself a piece
of scrap drywall. And then, place that drywall on your wall, and trace the outline because
what you’re going to do is create a perfect—in this case—rectangle, and you’re going
to place that piece of drywall in that space. You can use a drywall knife like I’m doing
here, or a drywall saw, to saw out the existing drywall. Or you can score along the studs.
So you can use a utility knife to score pieces of drywall that are directly overtop the studs.
And you can take your drywall knife—or saw, I should say—and cut out the remaining portion
of the drywall. When you score along the studs, it’s pretty
cool because all you have to do is snap back the drywall, and it comes right off, as you
can see here. Now it could be a pain if somebody glued the drywall to the stud. So make sure,
too, that you take out any screws or any nails from the studs because that’s probably going
to affect your new drywall piece. And then mark your studs on the existing drywall, and
put an X anywhere where you don’t want to drill. In this case, there’s a pipe in the
wall, and I don’t want to put a screw in that.
So I should’ve done this beforehand, but you also want to put tape overtop any shutoff
valves. So I simply put painter’s tape over the shutoff valves. The P-trap I’m not so
concerned about because I can always remove that. Put cardboard on the floor. You’re
going to protect the floor from any drywall dust. Then you’re going to be using coarse-threaded
drywall screws. In this case, I chose 15/8 drywall screws, and you’re going to use
a dimpler to patch the screws through the new drywall piece and into the studs.
I put the dimpler into my standard drill. Nothing special here. And what I did was attach
the screws into the stud locations. And as you can see here, it creates a perfect dimple.
No paper tears, which you don’t want. So here’s the piece of drywall. The next
step is to apply joint compound and tape. Now I like using setting-type joint compound.
This is Easy Sand 20 Lightweight Setting-Type Compound. It sets up in 20 minutes, so you
got to be quick. Then I use a mixing paddle from the kitchen. Don’t worry, I asked my
wife if I could use this extra one, a putty knife, and a mud pan are all you need. Make
sure that mud pan is super clean, though. The mixing paddle isn’t clean, but it’s
hard to get those as clean as possible. So do your best to clean it if you use it. And
then make sure you wear a respirator. You don’t want to inhale any drywall dust or
joint compound dust. Mix up the joint compound using the mixing
paddle in your drill. Don’t mix it up too quickly; you’ll create air pockets in the
mud. That’s not good. I like my mud that just barely fall off the putty knife or joint
compound knife. That’s the right consistency. Grab a nice, clean 6” joint compound knife.
You want it to be clean so that it doesn’t put any debris in your joint compound. Then
apply a 3/16” to ¼” layer of joint compound over the butt joints, the space between the
old drywall and the new drywall. Then embed the paper tape. The paper tape will make for
a nice, clean, smooth finish. So what you want to do is work out any wrinkles using
the 6” joint compound knife. So apply a nice, healthy layer of joint compound over
each horizontal butt joint, embed your tape. And then what you want to do—when I say
smoothen out, I mean smooth out the bottom section of the joint compound with joint tape,
and then the top section of the tape using your knife. And then run your knife down the
center of the tape to smooth out any remaining wrinkles or pockets underneath it.
Allow the horizontal sections to dry. Then what you can do is measure out the amount
of tape that you’re going to be… in this case, I want to say 6”. Apply a nice, healthy
dose of joint compound. Embed your tape. Pretty much the same way—starting in the center
and working your way out through the edges as you did for the horizontal pieces of tape.
So again, nice, healthy 3/16” to ¼” amount of joint compound over that joint. Apply the
tape, and then smooth out the tape using your joint compound knife. Pretty simple stuff.
Let that dry and then you can come back and do a second coating of joint compound.
Here’s the second layer of joint compound. Again, I like the joint compound to just barely
hang off the knife. I’m using a 6” joint compound knife to apply a layer of joint compound.
It’s 6” above and below the piece of tape that I embedded into the drywall. So for a
total amount of about 12” of joint compound. So 6” on either side of the tape.
So you can see here, again, it’s a nice, healthy layer of joint compound, 3/16” to
about ¼”. And I’m going to take a 10” joint compound knife and smooth out both sections,
so the top and the bottom. And then I’m going to do the same thing for the bottom
portion of tape. Now I want to show you a mistake that I made.
I took off too much joint compound; you can still see the tape on the bottom and a little
bit on the top. You don’t want to do that. This is a tight space, and I was hurting because
I was on my knees the whole time. But you’ll want to taper the edges, feather the edges
out using that 10” knife. And here’s what it looked like. Again, too
much joint compound is taken off the tape itself. You can see the tape; that’s not
good. But I needed to apply a third coating anyway and actually a fourth and fifth because
I needed to smooth out the entire wall. So you can take off any high and low spots
using the 6” knife. Just scrape it along the wall. Then I like using a sanding sponge,
a medium grit sanding sponge, to feather out the edges. So you want a circular motion using
that sponge. Take out any high and low spots. Feel around for them, and then place a level
on the wall and check to see if you missed anything and if you need to feather out even
more. So like I said, I needed to apply a fourth
and fifth coat because this wall was in bad shape. So I’m just applying a nice thin
skin coat over the entire wall. Check it out. This is what the wall looks like. I still
need to knock down some high spots and sand a bit more. But overall, it looks pretty darn
good. I think this is a great method you might want to try out.
Well there you go. That’s how you fix a large whole in the wall. I hope that you liked
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it’s pretty cool Thanks for watching the video today. Take
care, and I’ll talk to you soon.