What to do if you are cutting into drywall and make the hole too big

[BlackTegSE]

I was trying to cut into some drywall earlier to make a cable drop and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. Ended up making the hole larger than the faceplate. I found this solution which seems pretty easy:

http://areaguides.com/ubuild/punchBigHoleInTheWall.htm

Does anyone have any better ideas or is this the best one? Thanks.

 

[dartworth]

Seems like a lot of extra work. I would just use one of those patches from Home Depot. They ar right by the drywall tools and joint compound.

The patch is a thin piece of metal with some mesh on it. It comes in different size. The mesh is sticky, so just cut it to the needed shape and size. Then place it over the area you want to patch. They apply your joint compound. Allow the compound to dry and then sand it down. Two or three coats should do it.

Don't use a lot of compound, just more to sand down. A few thin layers. Sand it down so it blends into the wall around the hole. With time, you won't even notice the patch work.

Hope this helps

 

[BlackTegSE]

Thanks. I'm gonna swing by Home Depot tomorrow morning then.

 

[anandfan]

Thanks for the UBuild web site link. I added it to my Favorites.

I agree that for smaller holes the wire mesh is probably good enough. I think the UBuild patch is for those big holes -- like the station wagon that is almost too big for the garage punches 2 2-sq-ft holes where the bumper guards hit the wall (been there, done that). If I was using the UBuild approach, I think I'd use toggle bolts to pull the plywood in really secure then add the drywall screws then remove the toggle bolts.

my usual solution to faceplate problems like yours is to buy an oversize face plate! But that is for switches and outlets. Don't know if they have them for cable connects.

 

[Macro2]

The article is the only good way to do it.. Your patch of drywall has to have something to screw into. You can do it buy cutting pieces of plywood.

 

[cmetz]

Having watched my builder's fix-it guys doing work on my house, I can attest that the method in this article is what the pros do and it works well.

I've had good luck with the plastic mesh for a decent sized hole, it takes several passes of covering it liberally with compound and sanding to get it, and the texture is going to be too smooth, but from a distance nobody'll see it.

For box holes that are too big, where too big is 1/4" to 1/2", I've been able to build out from the drywall with blobs of compound, adding some each time. The key here is that the compound sticks to itself or the front face of drywall pretty well, but not to the gypsum edge. So you have to at the least reach beyond the extension of compound and hold it in place and be very gentle, or you'll "break" it right off the edge of the drywall. Again, the end result will be too smooth, but from a distance nobody'll see it. I did a lot of wall box cut-outs this way, and it worked okay. A few had to be done a few times due to this breakage issue... you're almost there, doing a final sanding pass, and it just crumbles away...