PATCHING A LARGE DRYWALL HOLE

So um, as I was told, some dude was drunk and "accidentally" made a hole on my client's wall. She called me up and here we go, fixing this thing.

First thing is to measure the size of the hole. It's about 6" x 8. I want cut a patching piece slightly larger than the hole so let's say 7" x 10".

Then I cut off the broken part using the dimension above. To do this, I transferred the measurement above to a piece of drywall. Used that piece of drywall as a template and traced the outline of what I need to remove from the existing wall. This way I will have a clean and perfect fit for the patching piece.

Then cut it out.

To apply the patch, I need some support in the back of the drywall in order to secure the patching piece. To do this, I used 2 small pieces of 5 1/8 plywood. Just long enough to overlap the height of the new hole so I can fasten them in the back of the wall.

Fasten the wood strips to the back of the wall using drywall screws. It's important to drive the screw heads below the wall's surface so we don't have any weird bumps (drywalling 101).

Next, attaching the patch to the strips using drywall screws. Same thing. Sink the screw heads below surface. Now we have a secured patch.

I added mesh tape at the seams of the patch before applying drywall compound. It will need 2 coats and about 24 hour drying time in between. The first coat is only to fill the gap and give it a foundation. The second coat must be feathered out to give a smooth transition between the wall and the patch. After the 2nd coat is dry, sand it smooth and match the paint then it will become like nothing ever happened.

I didn't have time to paint it so I instructed my client on how to do it and they are very excited to do so.

1st coat of compound