Question for you drywallers

[ric0chet06]

We just hired a company to do the insulating foam thing ( like great stuff, but in bulk) To do this, he had to drill a 1/2 hole every 16'' vertical on the walls. Now, what would be the best way to patch over these? Just do it normally with mud, or should we patch over each individual hole with tape?

 

[Sluggo]

Nobody here does actual physical labor, I can't believe you asked such a demeaning question.


Fill the hole with mud, allow to dry, maybe another coat of mud if the first coat shrinks and cracks a lot, then patch with tape and mud normally. If you just put tape on, chances are it will puff up and make a little convex lump on the wall.

 

[paperfist]

Foam through a 1/2" hole?

If they are perfect 1/2" holes I'd tap in a 1/2" wood dowel till it was recessed a bit and then patch over it with some light weight Spackle.

 

[BoomerD]

Hire a drywaller to do the job. A good mud & texture guy can fix those fast and you'll never even know they were there.

Yes, it'll cost you a couple hundred $$, (maybe more, depending on how many holes and how many square feet) but in the long run, it'll be worth it. Do you REALLY want a bunch of noticeable patches on your walls?

 

[rhino56]

i am a professional drywall hanger and finisher. The best way to repair the holes is to get a piece of drywall, if the hole is 1" cut a square of drywall 4"x4", from the backside in the center cut a circle the same size as the hole, cut 4 or 5 lines from the cut to the edge of the drywall. So it will look something like this on the backside

then carefully break off the outside pieces peeling them away from the front paper, leaving the face of the drywall paper intact and square. put mud on the backside of the plug piece, insert it into the hole, pull your mud blade across it pushing the mud out to the edges leaving it completely smooth. Cover it with a coat or 2 of mud, sand if needed and it's patched.

 

[dfuze]

You're lucky if it's only a 1/2" hole. I blew insulation into my walls using 2" dia holes. To finish each hole I used spray expanding foam which sounds like what you have put in. When it expanded out the hole, I let it dry then cut it flush with the drywall. Then I covered it with the mesh tape (I think its used for cement board) and then covered with a couple layers of mud going out a few extra inches to feather it in with the wall. It's very hard to see where each hole is now that it's been painted too.

 

[Squisher]

...if the hole is 1"...

Let me start out by saying I bow down to you. I am a rank amateur that got a chance to hang, mud, tape, sand, and paint maybe 30 sheets in the last few months. But, he said 1/2" I don't think you could get that center plug down to that size and keep it stuck to the paper.

If it were me I'd use a first fill of patching plaster and then go in with mud.


EDIT: btw - I was better at the end than I was at the beginning

 

[highland145]

i am a professional drywall hanger and finisher. The best way to repair the holes is to get a piece of drywall, if the hole is 1" cut a square of drywall 4"x4", from the backside in the center cut a circle the same size as the hole, cut 4 or 5 lines from the cut to the edge of the drywall. So it will look something like this on the backside

then carefully break off the outside pieces peeling them away from the front paper, leaving the face of the drywall paper intact and square. put mud on the backside of the plug piece, insert it into the hole, pull your mud blade across it pushing the mud out to the edges leaving it completely smooth. Cover it with a coat or 2 of mud, sand if needed and it's patched.

+1 idea.

 

[thepd7]

i am a professional drywall hanger and finisher. The best way to repair the holes is to get a piece of drywall, if the hole is 1" cut a square of drywall 4"x4", from the backside in the center cut a circle the same size as the hole, cut 4 or 5 lines from the cut to the edge of the drywall. So it will look something like this on the backside

then carefully break off the outside pieces peeling them away from the front paper, leaving the face of the drywall paper intact and square. put mud on the backside of the plug piece, insert it into the hole, pull your mud blade across it pushing the mud out to the edges leaving it completely smooth. Cover it with a coat or 2 of mud, sand if needed and it's patched.

Thanks for posting you rock

 

[paperfist]

Thanks for posting you rock

lol good luck getting a 1/2" circle of drywall cut out.

 

[DrPizza]

OP, Out of curiosity, how much did it cost for the foam? I'm looking to vault my living room ceiling this fall. That'll just leave me with 5 1/2" of space for insulation between the ceiling and the roof decking. I was thinking about having it filled in with foam, since it has a higher R-value per inch than fiberglass or cellulose. Since I'll also be tearing down the walls to the studs, that foam would also greatly increase the R-value in the walls, 3 of which are exterior walls.

(To the inevitable "durrr, it's gotta be R39," I don't care. It's R close to nothing right now; about 2" of compressed fiberglass at the moment in the entire attic. Unless there's a structural reason not to do it (roof rot or something, which as I understand it, using that foam stuff eliminates that problem), then I'm fairly unconcerned about R-values.)

 

[DrPizza]

Oh, and OP, for how to patch the holes - if they're 1", with nothing behind them, then Rhino's method is best. However, I'm going to guess that the foam fills the wall to at least flush with the back of the hole. 1/2", I'd think you could just fill in with joint compound.

But, Rhino's the expert here - if he doesn't come back to the thread, PM him and point out that the holes are 1/2", not 1"

 

[olds]

For a .5 inch hole, I'd put some mud or spackle in it.
Give it a day to dry.
Top off the hole the next day.
Then either use a wet sponge to try to match the texture or use the texture in a spray can.

 

[swanysto]

I am an estimator for a commercial drywall company, and I pay one of our hispanic workers to do it.

 

[olds]

I am an estimator for a commercial drywall company, and I pay one of our hispanic workers to do it.

Keep the gay shit out of here. We are talking drywall.

 

[edro]

I like the dowel rod idea...
Joint compound will probably work fine, but you will need 3 coats/sandings to get it smooth.
Even small screw divots require at least 2 coats.
I imagine a 1/2" hole would sink more and require at least another coat.

 

[olds]

I like the dowel rod idea...
Joint compound will probably work fine, but you will need 3 coats/sandings to get it smooth.
Even small screw divots require at least 2 coats.
I imagine a 1/2" hole would sink more and require at least another coat.

.

That works good in wood, I see it being a PITA in drywall

 

[DaTT]

i am a professional drywall hanger and finisher. The best way to repair the holes is to get a piece of drywall, if the hole is 1" cut a square of drywall 4"x4", from the backside in the center cut a circle the same size as the hole, cut 4 or 5 lines from the cut to the edge of the drywall. So it will look something like this on the backside

then carefully break off the outside pieces peeling them away from the front paper, leaving the face of the drywall paper intact and square. put mud on the backside of the plug piece, insert it into the hole, pull your mud blade across it pushing the mud out to the edges leaving it completely smooth. Cover it with a coat or 2 of mud, sand if needed and it's patched.

This is how I would do it, except 1 difference. I would make the hole in the wall square to make things a little easier. We call it a blow-out patch. Works great. No tape required as the drywall paper will act as that.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

When I had my house insulated with blown in fiberglass, they cut some foam pieces to fill in the holes (about 1.5") and then spread spackle over it. I let it dry and put another coat of joint compound and sanded to make it nice and perfect. (my walls are untextured)

 

[nickbits]

I would just put mesh tape over the holes and cover with DryDex/mud or whatever. 1/2" is pretty small

 

[DaTT]

I would just put mesh tape over the holes and cover with DryDex/mud or whatever. 1/2" is pretty small

Ewwwwwww....mesh......ewwwwwww

 

[paperfist]

Oh, and OP, for how to patch the holes - if they're 1", with nothing behind them, then Rhino's method is best. However, I'm going to guess that the foam fills the wall to at least flush with the back of the hole. 1/2", I'd think you could just fill in with joint compound.

But, Rhino's the expert here - if he doesn't come back to the thread, PM him and point out that the holes are 1/2", not 1"

That's a good point about the foam filling up to the back of the hole. In that case screw the dowel idea and just grab some light weight Spackle

I'd still like to know what this foam is that can fill up a cavity through a 1/2" hole without blowing out the drywall in the the first place.

At my house I've ripped each room apart to the studs so that I could have them spray foamed.

 

[bfdd]

This is how I would do it, except 1 difference. I would make the hole in the wall square to make things a little easier. We call it a blow-out patch. Works great. No tape required as the drywall paper will act as that.

This is what I've done before. I've never wasted my time trying to cut a circle, just make the other one a square much easier.

 

[DrPizza]

That's a good point about the foam filling up to the back of the hole. In that case screw the dowel idea and just grab some light weight Spackle

I'd still like to know what this foam is that can fill up a cavity through a 1/2" hole without blowing out the drywall in the the first place.

At my house I've ripped each room apart to the studs so that I could have them spray foamed.

Again, any idea on price per square foot doing this?

 

[paperfist]

Again, any idea on price per square foot doing this?

Got a calculator handy? They didn't break down the 3 areas I did, but it went like this:

216 sq' @ 3" thick = $600.00 for R-7 per inch of closed cell spray foam. This was on open cavity walls, no idea what the OP is using.

They don't go by the sq' per se, they use board feet which takes into account the depth.