LESLIE: Eric in Utah, what’s going on at your money pit?
ERIC: We have some walls in our home that are thin and every once in a while we’ll bump into them and put another hole in it …
TOM: (chuckling) OK.
ERIC: … and I’m wondering what the best way is to patch that up and maybe, as an alternative, just considering replacing the whole set of walls that that’s happening to. But what’s a good way to patch a hole in the wall?
TOM: What are your walls made out of? Are they made out of drywall?
ERIC: I don’t think they are drywall. We – other parts of our house the walls are drywall but this is thinner than that.
TOM: Well, that’s kind of unusual. The repair advice we could give you would have to assume that you’re starting at least with drywall and if it’s a straight hole that you’re kind of fixing – is it a hole like the size of a hand or is it a crack? What does the breakdown look like?
ERIC: It’s about the size of a hand and …
TOM: OK, and you didn’t put your hand through the wall now, did you?
ERIC: (chuckling) No. The worst part is where our stairs go from the ground level down to the basement and you have to make that turn and you’re carrying things and …
TOM: Well, if it’s the size of a say, you know, two or three-inch hole there’s a metal patch kit that you can get where the patch looks like a piece of screening material and you essentially spackle the screen over the hole. And through successive coats of spackle, probably three coats, you end up covering the entire screening piece. It’s sticky. It sticks to the wall, lays flat and it’s very strong when it’s done. So that’s the easiest way to patch that hole.
ERIC: Is that going to look pretty smooth or are you going to be able to notice the bump there?
TOM: No, it’ll look pretty smooth when you’re done because the secret here is to start with a coat of spackle really close to the hole; the next one’s a little wider; the next one’s a little wider and then once you paint it, sure, if you held a strong light across it you’ll see a slight sort of swelling of that area but not anything more than you would have in any other drywall seam.
ERIC: I see. OK. That should work.
TOM: Eric, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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