Repairing Holes in Wall

[Ephratahe]

How would I go about repairing multiple holes in my wall? I had to repair a rack, but we couldn't find the support behind the wall (sorry, I didn't have one of those detector thing-a-ma-jig). The result was drilling multiple holes in the wall, and it doesn't look good. Someone suggested I put tape over the holes and paint it over, but I'm not sure if there is a cheaper and easier alternative [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]. I really can't afford anything expensive, so any advice would be helpful. Thanks much [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

P.S. The wall is of the cheap variety... you know, that kind that seems like cardboard - punctures easily and doesn't offer much support (sorry, but I'm a little overwhelmed right now, and all those technical terms are eluding me [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]).

[sistacaf]

Re: Repairing Holes in Wall

ephra first of all -- Next time just knock on the wall - you don't need a stud finder to locate the supports. Go across from one end to the other; you can hear it easily. Where there is empty space behind the wall, it sounds 'hollow', where there is a stud, you can definitely hear the change in the sound.

Don't tape and paint - that's just ghetto and will only fall off. It is SO easy to fix the holes, and so cheap, it don't make no kinda sense to tape it, when that will only make more work to fix later.

Just fill the holes in - you can get a hole filling compound for less than 5 bucks at any Lowe's or Home Depot, or even Walgreen's, RiteAid and them kinda places sometimes ahve it too. No need to buy any large amount, they have small containers that are cheap and super easy to use - you just fill in the hole, let it dry overnight, then you might have to fill it in again cause sometimes the compound will sink in a little bit. Let dry overnight again and you may have to do a bit of sanding to get it even with the wall. Once dry you cna paint it and done.

[Ephratahe]

Re: Repairing Holes in Wall

Thanks, Sistacaf [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. I didn't even factor in the possibility that the tape would fall off. We kept knocking on the wall, trying to locate the stud, but it seemed like the stud didn't run all the way down to the ground (it was just a little bitty piece of board that -when we did eventually locate it- was hard to drill thru), so we would have had to completely re-do the entire rack - a big no, no.

I didn't know they sold the compoud for re-filling holes. Thank you sooooooo much!! I'll worry about the painting bit later - the wall has high gloss paint and the color is off-white.

Thanks again [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. I'm gonna schedule a trip to HD or WM this weekend. The holes look really ghastly [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img].

[sistacaf]

Re: Repairing Holes in Wall

That sounds like a jerry-rigged set up right there.... LOL.

and yeh, tape just looks like real cra.p and doesn't stay on after awhile - plus, high gloss paint is VERY unforgiving. EVERY little mark or line will show under it, you don't want any ugly tape marks. If you are a renter, they will ding your security deposit money for that, and if you own your home, well then you REALLY don't want any half-azz repair jobs, now do yuh? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

you can always touch up the paint another time, after the holdes are filled. Even if they don't match the paint precisely it will still look a heckuva lot better when they are filled in with white compound -

good luck! PM me if yuh need any more advice, i used to do this for a living so i know all about sheet rock!

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Repairing Holes in Wall

The studs are `6 inches apart so if you start at a corner and measure towards the area you should be able to find them without much efort.
To make it less conspicious do it at the level of the baseboard.

[Ephratahe]

Re: Repairing Holes in Wall

Sistacaf, you do best [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img].

Dr. Dudd, someone else also said that the studs should be that distance, and we honestly measured and tried to drill the hole in the correct spot, but the drill would go straight through the wall - leaving another hole in its wake [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. We even kept searching for the baseboard just in case it became necessary to re-position the rack - no luck [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. The rack was eventually 'fixed', but now the wall is a mess. Gonna get the compound and touch it up though.

Thanks all. You don't know how helpful all this info was for me [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img]