Okay, how do I put this? I was at a friends house and was messing around. I was trying to get away from someone that was after me and I tripped over a shoe and slammed into the wall with my fist and chest. I think I broke a coulpe of ribs and the skin is missing on both of my knees. Every time I breathe it stings. Anyways, I probably put a 14 inch wide hole in her wall. How do I go about patching it? I have done small holes before but none this big. Any tips will help, also it is textured, so what is an easy way to match it? Thanks.

 

duct tape?

 

Cut the hole square to make it easier to patch. Stick a length of 1x3 inside the wall behind the hole, and screw it to the intact drywall. Cut a patch as close as possible to the size of the cut out hole, and screw it to the 1x3. Apply a little joint compound to the joints, and tape them. After it dries, apply the mud again, let dry, and sand. The using powdered drywall joint compound, mix up a fairly thin batch and put it in a turkey baster. Use the baster to squirt the mix at the area, it's kind of a trial and error thing, but should get you real close to the same texture. Paint it and forget it!

 

You can also buy texture touch up in spray cans. It has different tubes that fit on the nozzle allowing you to vary the size of the texture.

 

If it's 14" you're almost between two studs, so you could cut it a little to the existing studs and use blocking if you want.

Sand the existing texture down about 24" around the hole, not all the way to paper, but enough to knock it down.

After you put in your new piece, there's a mesh type tape that's sticky on one side that can be used to seam.

You're going to have to feather out at least 14" from the seam to try and hide it and with all the sanding, better mask and tape everything well - keep the vacuum going or she'll be really angry..

What's the wall size? If it's a long wall that's at a right angle to a window where light can shine on it, that can be a bear to blend.

For texture, I've used watered down drywall mud and a paint roller. Roll it on like paint. At the edges get your roller almost dry and feather it out a few more inches with short light rolls at a bunch of different angles, then follow up with a wisk broom. Dip the broom in mud, (just the tips), hold it upright and splatter by raking it with your hand, trying to match the existing texture.

Oh..! Since you're in Vegas, you could put the sheetrock in and call one of the residential sheetrock contractors and see if they could do the tape and texture for you. Tell them you'll do all the prep, moving stuff and masking things off. One of the benefits of living someplace with huge growth is the contractors are so busy doing new con$tuction, they sometimes throw their guys jobs like this on a side basis. Might save you some time and money to make a few phone calls. I mean, if the sheen on the paint is eggshell or better, you're still going to have to paint the whole wall..

My plan of attack would be to drive into one of the developments under construction, find a house that's at the drywall stage, ( Exterior siding isn't quite done yet and there's plastic covering the windows). Find the guys with white stuff all over them and ask if they have a sheetrock scrap the size you need. Thank them and ask who does side jobs for cash. You won't have to waste a sheet and might get a lead on a taper.

 

Good advice by all.

My 2 cents:

When picking up your supplies at your local Home Improvement store, see if they got a damaged sheet of sheetrock (you don't need a full sheet) you can talk them out of for free, or at least at a discount. Additionally, I have used the texture-in-a-spray-can as CowboyBilly9Mile has suggested, and it's the only way to go for a small project such as this.

 

use a carpenters square or something else with 90degree angle on it so you can cut out the damaged area in a perfect square. that makes it so much easier to cut a piece of new drywall to fit your hole.

when cutting out the damaged drywall, try and centre the left and right sides of your square over the 2x4's. then screw your patch into the 2x4's with drywall screws. go easy on the drill so the head of the screw digs into the drywall a bit and make a little dimple without tearing hte paper. you don't want the head of the screw sticking out above the surface of the wall. also by making the edges of the board hug the two by fours, you're making a little trough. makes it easier to put in the putty and smooth out the edges of your patch

another thing worth mentioning is to use an exacto knife to cut out the old wall. don't try to cut thru it in one stroke. make lots of little cuts going deeper each time so you cut nice straight edges without any chipping.

 

I'm surprise you didn't have that special insurance; no not afflect, but "put my fist and chest through the wall and broke my ribs" insurance. Seriously, hope you're ok. Just follow the instructions from these fine FTE posters and you'll do just fine. It looks way tougher than it is. What I also do is prime the patch panel before I put any mud on. That's just in case you sand past the mud and into the paper. It works. Good Luck.

Oh yea; try using a damp sponge instead of a sanding pad to feather out the mud and to keep it dust free. That dust will get EVERYWHERE.

 

Thanks for the tips guys, I am headed to Home Depot now, then to her house.

 

Try the spray on texture. I use the stuff all the time, and with the 3 sized tubes it's easy to get a match. Double check the existing texture. If it's knock down texture, that is a different spray. The good thing about these products is that after applying, if it does not look right you can wipe it off and try again until you get the right appearence. If you can hook to the studs, that's the best, but if the existing drywall is 1/2" or thinner, screw a backer board top and bottom for extra strength when taping. Good luck.

 

hang a picture,.. just kid'n

I am suprised at all the responses,.. great ones. althou i keeped asking myself what kind of texture is it. there are a few different ways to do texture but if the patch is say, low and behind an open door then finish dosent matter as much as say, in the middle of the wall at eye level. Going by how you discribed the accident im thinking you hit the middle of the wall or at least in plan view.

Most likely everyone who posted advice hit the nail on the head when they recomendend spray texture.

Orange peel, Knockdown, and skip are the most common.
Orange peel looks like the peel of an orange..lol and is ment to be subtle/light and is usually sprayed in bathrooms and kitchens.

Knockdown is ment to be medium/heavy spray and is slightly wiped before drying. creating the blots of mud to blend together creating crannies and holidays.
Both of these textures can be purchased in a can.

The skip trowel is a hand texture as the name implies, it is lightly skipped across the surface and then knocked down. For this texture you need to get a little amount of mud along the edge of your drywall knife then hold the knife with the tips of fingers so the knife is as flat as possible against the wall. Lightly drag the knife across the wall. You can wipe it again or knock it down to get rid of any high spots or inconsistancies.

If it were my project I would use drywall pan, 6" knife, 10" or a 12" knife, tape, taping mud, and a tarp. plastic or sheets with masking tape for a spray texture. Hot mud is good but you have little time to work with it so I'll stick with the KiSS rule.

One note: after you have applyed the tape and mud is dry and you are ready for texture, take a wet sponge and blend in the edges on the patch. This will reduce the chances of and edge lines photographing thru the texture.
Also, the patch will require several coats atleast 2 so dont expect to get it nice and smooth on first coast. First coat should be applied in relantion to any voids and dips/ humps to make the patch as flat as possible. 2nd coat should be applied to the lap marks holidays and if need be, dips or bumps..etc to make the patch flat.

Sanding can be avoided if you scrap the lap marks created by the knife. It helps to do a skim coat over the entire patch by putting the mud on then wiping it clean off.

Also be sure to add water to your mud, this will make it easier to work with.

Oh .. and when you spray, give yourself a foot or so around the patch when you mask off for spray. If you mask off to close to thew patch, a line will show where the tape was when you remove it.

 

Okay, well what I did was cut the hole into a perfect square. I did have to buy a whole sheet of drywall. I cut the same square in the drywall. Then I took some paint stiring sticks and screwed them inside the wall behind the hole. I took the square piece of drywall and screwed it to the wood. I then took mud and filled in the impurities. I sanded it smooth when it dried and used the texture in a can stuff. After I sprayed it I knocked it down and tried to match the texture as best as possible. It took a few coats of paint but all in all it turned out good. Thanks again for the tips!

 

just turn the whole thing around and sue the owners of the house, it will hold up in court, just kidding hope your ok, the boys gave good advice.