Well that was a fun weekend! Lisa and I had a family party for our daughter on Saturday afternoon… and it went off without a hitch. I can’t believe she’s one already! Where does the time go? We basically spent the last six weeks preparing for this with all the projects and cleaning and it was well worth it! We were both so beat by the end of the weekend, that Lisa asked for one more day before she writes her post on the party, the food and her decorations. So, please stop by tomorrow and the rest of the week for all the party details!!
Despite how smooth the party went, we did run into one minor snafu two nights before the party. When I was removing one of our baby gates, the pads that make contact with the walls, tore the drywall paper on one side and removed the paint on the other!! Yikes! Check out the photos here…
Upon seeing these, Lisa asked “How long’s that gonna take to fix? Until Saturday?” Nah, two hours. Here’s how I fixed it.
How to Repair Drywall Tears:
1. Rip the rest of the paper to make sure there’s no more loose paper or paint hanging on.
2. Locate some quick drying spackle. I’m using a light compound that the builder left us for quick repairs. You can always use the “blue” or “green” joint compound, but they’ll take much longer to dry. You’ll also need a 6″ drywall knife. Don’t use the 2″ wide knife. They’re not really useful for much of anything except spooning the spackle out of the container. I’m using a wooden shim for that instead.
3. Scoop some of the spackle onto the knife and apply generously. You want to make sure you can’t see the torn area coming through the spackle. The biggest mistake people make with these type of repairs is they try to get it right in one coat. It’s going to take AT LEAST THREE coats of spackle and two coats of paint to get it to where you can’t see the damage or a lump from the spackle. Make sure your first coat is about as wide as the width of the knife you’re using.
For minor tears in just the paint, you may only need one coat of spackle. This repair below is ready for paint after only one coat.
4. Once the first coat has set up, it’s time to scrape off the high spots. To reduce the mess, I tape a plastic bag underneath the area I’ll be working. I then use the same spackle knife to scrape the area lightly towards the bag. You won’t need to sand if you do this effectively. The bag will catch all the waste. And don’t press too hard or you’ll gouge the spackle and have to start over.
5. The second coat of spackle will go on about the same thickness as the first, but much wider. Rule of thumb is the spackle area should be twice the width of the spackle knife. You want to start blending the spackle further out into the wall and feathering it out so there are no abrubt thickness changes.
6. Now scrape and repeat. Your third and if you feel necessary, forth coat, will be extremely thin and wider than the last coat.
7. Now sand lightly and you’re ready for paint. Two coats, because the spackle absorbs some. The photo below was taken while the first coat of paint was still wet.
So crisis averted. We repaired the damage in under two hours and no one was the wiser!!
How was your weekend? Any disasters averted on your end?
