Walls and Ceilings - Can I handle this hole?

How would I go about fixing this huge dent in my wall? Please be as specific as humanly possible because I am not a handyman whatsoever.

Thank you in advance for anyone taking the time to help me with my situation.

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm43/jjcnc82/IMAGE_230.jpg

Welcome to the forums!! Most likely this dent is between studs, so you have that working for you. De-energize the electrical circuit, remove the receptacle cover plate and the telephone cover (the wires will come out with the telephone, so don't be alarmed). Go ahead and cut out the worst damaged area so you can actually see what you have. You should be able to reach and feel a stud on both the right and the left. With a level, mark a plumb (up and down) line in the middle of the studs. Go just above the damaged area and draw a level line to meet the two other lines you drew, and do the same at the bottom. Cut this portion of the drywall out and cut a new one from new sheetrock to replace it with. Cut a piece of 1x4 about 13" long (twice) and screw it up and behind the top and bottom bare pieces of the remaining sheetrock. This will give you a surface to fasten the new piece to. Use either sheetrock (1 5/8" course) screws or drywall nails to fasten the new piece to the studs and 1x4's, forming a solid piece. You will need to tape and mud the joints, and if you have doubts on that, just let us know when you get the repair made, and we will walk you through that part, too.

I have a similar question. Just bought a house. Built in 1950. There's a tear in (what I believe is) the texture of the wall. Pretty thick though, about 1/4 inch thick. I can't tell what's behind it, but it looks like wood, as opposed to sheet rock. I have a picture, but I don't have a website to host the insert.

I want to retexture the walls, provided there's not a greater problem hidden back there. (1) Is this really just the texture, or is there more attached? (2) Is it possible that there is actually wood, not just sheet rock back there? (3) Can I remove the texture the way that you would a popcorn ceiling without damaging the wall? & (4) the texture I'm looking for leaves the trowell edge lines. Does anyone know how to acheive that texture look?

Any help would be great! Thank you.

Welcome to the forums Wallminator!

Pics can be posted using a free site like www.photobucket.com

It sounds like you have plaster with wood lath - not drywall. Is this "tear" where the plaster is falling off? I don't repair plaster very often but when I do, I use durabond - it's more user friendly and I always seem to have some on hand :D

One of our plaster pros will probably be along later with better info for you :cool:

Thanks, Marksr. I uploaded the pictures share. Here they are. Sorry, I couldn't get them smaller.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk480/wallminator/P7010023.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk480/wallminator/P7010021.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk480/wallminator/P7010022.jpg

There isn't any plaster falling off. It looks more like a piece of tape has come loose underneath the top layer of the wall. 2nd picture shows that well. Looks like a settling crack when you're standing off from it a ways, but it looks like a gaping tear when you're closer too it.

Google

"hot patch" drywall

It probably works up to 1 sq. ft. or so, or more.

That sure looks like drywall tape. If you are ready to tackle it, you might as well tear off what is loose - then you will know just what needs to be repaired. Post back what it looks like once the loose is removed and we will help you on the best plan of attack.

Pulled a piece of the dangling chad off the wall & saw that it is, in fact, dry wall underneath. Here's a picture of the same spot.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk480/wallminator/P7020025.jpg

There are four more settling cracks like this one on the same wall. I think that I've decided to just retexture the cracks instead of the whole wall. Average length of the cracks are two feet. Don't know if you can tell, but the texture seems pretty uniform. May be a little sand in it. Could be that they just dragged over the drywall with something smooth. It's not like the knock down we see in our rental.

What type of texture do you think that is? With the texture being dated, can I patch just the affected areas without redoing the whole wall? What would you recommend as the next step?

The earlier pic shows what looks like an orange peel texture - basically thinned down j/c sprayed on the wall. You can buy it in aersol cans. I usually spray it with a hopper gun if the repair is of any size or use a sponge to texture small repairs.

If you use a sponge, thin down the j/c to about paint consistency [maybe a little thicker] and pat the texture over the repair. It may take a little experimenting to get it right. You can practice on cardboard or even the wall - if it doesn't look right you can wipe it off while wet or sand it off when dry and try again.

A sand texture is a little bit rough. There is a sand texture additive you add to your paint. I assume you can buy it at your local paint store - I've not used it in many years.

Finally finished the project today. Retextured two walls, filling in six cracks along the way. Primed & Painted. It looks great! Can hardly tell where the cracks were. Actually lost track of them myself.

I used aresol texture after mudding on one wall. Used strictly pre-mixed j/c on the other wall. They both came out about the same. Not sure which I prefer yet. The aerosal is definitely easier to use though.

I will post before & after pics here soon.

Thanks again for all the help!

Sorry it took a while, but here are the promised "after" pictures.

Maybe not the best angles, but I hope you can see that it turned out great.

I used the aerosal joint compound for the wall directly ahead (love it). I used the pre-mixed J/C for the wall on the left. Also fun, more cost effective, but a little more involved. Both walls came out equally well.

Thanks again for all the help, everyone!!! You really helped me see that I could do it myself.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk480/wallminator/P7040028.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk480/wallminator/P7040030.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk480/wallminator/P7050033.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk480/wallminator/P7060035.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk480/wallminator/MBBlueWindow.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk480/wallminator/MasterBed.jpg

Nice work.
Thank you for showing us how it turned out. We like to know how our advice works.
Even thought I did not contribute to this I appreciate it.