Homeowner Forum / Repair / July 2008

* Cut a couple of pieces of thin wood about six inches wider than your
hole. I've used paint stirrers, but something about 1/2" thick would be
better. Screws might split the thin wood.
* Put the strips inside the wall, spanning the hole, so about 3" is
behind the wallboard on each side. Drive a screw or two through the
wallboard and into the strip on each side. Some adhesive wouldn't hurt.
It will look like this:

        +------------+
        |            |
  +-----+------------+-----+
  | * * |            | * * |
  +-----+------------+-----+
        |            |
        |            |
        |            |
        |            |
  +-----+------------+-----+
  | * * |            | * * |
  +-----+------------+-----+
        |            |
        +------------+

* Cut a wallboard patch to fit the hole.
* Screw the patch to the wood strips. Again, some adhesive wouldn't
hurt.
* Use wallboard mud to hide your repair. You get to express your
artsy-fartsy side here. I hope you're more artsy than fartsy. :-)

Best method is to patch stud-to-stud, but that would require buying more
drywall, which is a pain to haul, and then what do you do with the rest
of the sheet? For a small hole, if you kept the plug you cut out, use
splint boards on the backside. Some 3/4x2 lathe is plenty. Cut a couple
sticks longer than the hole, and hold them against the backside of the
hole while you put in drywall screws through the drywall outside the
area of the hole, into the lathe. You can then screw the plug you cut
out to the splints. Feather the edges of the hole and the plug slightly
to avoid bumps in the patch.  Any of the DIY books or websites about
drywall work will have pictures that explains this better than words
can. Just Google on 'patching holes in drywall'.

But having said all that- if the hole is someplace where it won't show
(like a closet), I'd just install a painted masonite cover over it, for
the next time the plumbing needs to be worked on. If I ever get rich
enough to build a house, I'll lay it out so all the wet walls have
access plates on the back side. (I really hate patching drywall...)

--
aem sends...

How it's typically done by a pro is to get a small piece of steel stud
and drywall screw it across the opening.  then take your patch and screw
that to the stud, then tape and mud as usual.

nate

Cut it back to expose a stud at either end.

There are a few methods to fix this.  Make a brace with a 16"x4" piece
of ply set inside the wall across the hole and fasten with drywall
screws on each end.  Insert the patch and fasten to the brace.  Tape,
mud, sand, mud, sand, prime, and paint.

If there's a chance the pipe will need future access, such as the hole
providing access to the bathtub's fixtures, you might consider hiding the
hole rather than patching it.

Bridge across the inside of the cut, within the wall cutout with some
wood strips etc. screw or glue them to each side of the hole. If you
can get the bridging along at least two of the edges would be good;
but not essential. And/or jam some two by foyr etc, same thickness a
wall into the gap to screw fill-in piece of new wall board to.
Buy or scrounge a piece of drywall (we always keep a few bits on hand
anyway) and cut to fit cut out. Screws better than nails (or even some
glue to hold the bridging against the adjacent drywall or even the
adjacent studs!
Cos then you are not pounding nails into the wall where there are no
supporting studs.
Finish drywall by normal taping and plastering; repaint wall etc.

Robert11 posted for all of us...

Really did a lot of research on this huh?  Geez