Not too long ago, I lived in a two story home that had drywall walls. On the most part, I really liked the walls – they were easy to clean, and easy to hang pictures and various types of decorations on. Then, one day, a friend was moving in on a temporary basis and that is when it occurred… I ended up with a gigantic hole in my wall! I guess this requires a little explanation. The stairs in the home were on the steep side. As you proceeded up the stairs, the ceiling slanted. My husband was helping our friend move a bed up the stairs to go into one of the bedrooms located there. My husband was at the top of the stairs going up, and the friend was at the bottom of the stairs going up.

As they progressed slightly up the stairs, the bed hit the ceiling, and jarred the bed and caused them to lose their balance. The friend at the bottom of the stairs actually tripped backwards (if you can understand what I am saying), and went back into the wall really hard. When this happened…the wall just caved in where his body hit it. All I could do was stand there in awe and fright looking at this hole.

This home was built in the early 1900’s, and was in the historic area of our town. It was a beautiful home that had been well taken care of and well preserved, and now it had a rather large hole in the wall!!!

What I did in order to repair the hole was actually really simple. I mean, I succeeded on my first try! The materials did not cost that much either! I went to Wal-Mart and bought some drywall tape. Many may call this “plaster” tape. I also purchased some plaster putty, and a putty knife. I also purchased a little piece of sandpaper. Now, you have to be careful about the tape. The kind that I purchased sort of has a net like appearance or pattern to it. It is slightly sticky on one side, and the other side has a tad bit of texture. You can purchase any type of plaster putty, but I prefer the type that has the small amount of water in it.

When I got home, I simply pulled the pieces of the wall that were caved in back towards me as much as I could without breaking the pieces. Then, I made a small mark with a pencil on each side of the damage with a pencil. I took the tape and a box cutter (the tape is kind of tough, so you need something to cut it), and started laying the tape at the top mark to the bottom mark. I continued laying the tape pieces side by side. Once I completed this, I laid more tape side to side, going over what I had already laid. This helped sturdy the area where the hole had been.

The next thing that I did was open the putty mix, and mixed it as well as I could. I took the putty knife and started applying it over the entire length and width of the drywall tape that I laid. Once this was all done, I made sure it was as even as possible and allowed it to dry. Once it dried, I simply sanded it down a little to smooth it out and applied some of the old paint we had left over from when we originally painted the wall. Today, you can’t even tell that there was a massive hole located there!