Walls and Ceilings - Oops!

You guessed it- Went up in attic to get XMas decorations and I slipped- Foot went right through kitchen ceiling. Any advice on how to repair??

A few preliminaries: Do you have texture on the ceiling? How big is the hole? Drywall or plaster?

The ceiling is drywall not plaster- I figure the hols is about 2' x 2'-
I had to cut it square since the hole was all jagged- I was figuring I have to frame out the other 2 sides for the sheet rock to nail into-? then cut a piece of drywall to fit the hole.... any tips??

Use either 2"x or even a couple of pieces of plywood about 5"-6" wide & long enough to go between the joists, hold them in place & attach with screws to allow something to screw the other two sides of the drywall patch to.

Measure how thick the existing drywall is, most likely 5/8" since it sounds like you might have joists on 2 ft centers, but could be 1/2". If your patch isn't the same thickness as the rest of the lid, it'll be hard to finish smoothly.

There's also a How-to Tutorial on Drywall Patching here on the site, scroll down a bit & you'll see the link on this page.
Drywall Patching Tutorial (http://doityourself.com/wall/index.htm)

Is the ceiling flat inished or textured?

If a side is close to a joist cut back to the center of the joist.

Hi coops28

What's the best way to cut back to the center of a joist or stud?

Get a nice straight line down the middle of a stud. Cut on the line all the way through the drywall with a utility knife. Takes several passes.

Do you have to worry about crumbling the drywall to remove nails?

No. You can cut around the nails and pull them. Just make sure to screw the drywall down all around the patch. Then if you have some loose stuff knock it off and fill with mud before taping.

Thanks, guys.

I have a similar problem where I cut a 6" hole in the ceiling for surround speakers--and found misc. boards behind it the stud finder didn't detect b/t the joists.

I've replaced the cut out piece, spackled in the "seam" around it, but the ceiling is textured and I'd like to be able to get back the texture so a flat circle isn't visible after repair/paint. The texture is best described as random small round bumps that are flattened out on top, if that makes sense. The house is three years old if that helps get an idea of roughly when this patttern might have been used.

Is there any way to do this w/ putty, sandpaper, etc.?

Sounds like you have knockdown texture. Take a wet sponge and "erase" any sharp edges that may be left. Since the patch is pretty small you can get away with using a brush. Dip a brush into some mud and put it on the surface. When you pull the brush away it will pull some mud down with it. Do this all over the area. Let that set up for about 15 or 20 min. then take a drywall knife and knock it down flat. if it's too wet it will leave a big flat spot. You should practice on a scrape piece first to get the hang of it.

Cool thanks. I'm new to this, what's a drywall knife?

Drywall knife or putty knife. kinda the same thing. Drywall knives come in all sizes. from 2" to 12" to 18". It's what you put on the mud with for your patch.