Drywall Repair Basics for Lake Area Homes

By Texas Rural Fence, Inc. · Gates and Other Services

We are a fence and outdoor company, and most of what we know about walls we learned on the inside of our own houses. But drywall damage is one of the most common small repairs on any lake-area home, from a doorknob through a wall to a seam that cracked after a wet spring, and the questions people ask about it are the same ones they ask about a fence: is this small or big, can it be patched, and will the patch show? Here is the homeowner's version.

Common drywall damage

• Small punctures: nail and screw holes, small dings. Filler, sand, texture, paint.
• Dents and surface damage from furniture, without a hole through the board.
• Medium holes: a doorknob, a dropped tool. These need a patch set into the wall, not filler.
• Cracks along seams and at the corners of doors and windows.
• Worn or mismatched texture from an old repair or water damage.

How a proper repair goes

1. Evaluate. Surface fix or cut-in patch, and is there a cause behind it: a leak, settling, a plumbing problem?
2. Fill or patch. Small damage is filled; a hole gets a patch cut to fit and backed so it cannot push in.
3. Tape, mud and sand until the patch is flush with the wall.
4. Match the texture. The step that separates a good repair from an obvious one. Most homes here have a sprayed or knockdown texture that has to be matched by hand.
5. Prime and paint, blending into the surrounding wall, often repainting to a corner so the sheen matches.

Crack or something bigger?

Lake-area soil moves, and houses on it move with it. A hairline crack along a seam that stays filled is cosmetic. A crack that reopens after being filled, runs diagonally from a door or window corner, or arrives with doors that stick and gaps at the baseboard is movement in the house, and patching it again is a waste of mud. That one is worth a look from a foundation or framing contractor before it gets filled a third time. Clean gutters and good drainage around the slab prevent a surprising amount of it; see gutter cleaning.

Water damage

Stained, soft or bubbling drywall means water got to it, and the leak has to be found and fixed first or the repair fails. A roof, a window, a plumbing line or a clogged gutter overflowing against the wall are the usual suspects.

What to ask whoever does the repair

Whether they will match the texture and how, whether the patch is backed, whether they will look for a cause, and whether paint is included. The cheapest drywall repair is the one that does not have to be done twice.

The outside of the house

For everything outside the walls, fences, gates, decks, pergolas, skirting, pressure washing and staining, that is our side of the property. See other services and spring home maintenance.