Drywall repair seems like a daunting task but its quite simple. Spackle is best used to fill the tiny holes in drywall caused by thumbtacks, stray darts or small nails. You can purchase spackle in various sized containers. Plan to buy only what you will use with this project or what will be used in the very near future as it dries up quite easily. A little bit of this stuff goes a long way. A decent putty knife purchased with the spackle and a bit of sand paper is all you need to patch small holes.

Once you’ve located a hole you take the rounded handle of your putty knife (or the rounded end of a screwdriver) and push inward on the hole creating a smooth dented surface to be filled with spackle. Using a clean putty knife blade scoop a generous amount of spackle onto the blade and smooth it over the hole being certain to scrape the excess away. The excess needs to be scraped away from all angles. Once you have completely patched an entire wall the first holes filled are dry and hardened enough to go back and sand them smooth. Once painted these small holes will not be detected.

To repair a doorknob-sized-hole the same principal is involved. In a larger repair there will be the addition of drywall tape and joint compound to your list of material. As with rounding and creating a place for the spackle to be packed into a tack-sized-hole, with the larger hole you will also need to create a firm surface for the joint compound and eventually the drywall tape. Stuffing newspaper into the cavity of the hole or filling the hole with joint compound or both can be done to fill in the missing drywall. Keep adding joint compound and allowing it to dry until the indention (that was the hole) is flush with the wall. Once you are satisfied with filling the hole it is time to apply the drywall tape. A final layer of moist joint compound “glues” the drywall tape down and you need only add one final coat of compound over the tape. Scrape away excess joint compound on top of the drywall tape, being careful not to scrape too deeply. Drying time between coats for joint compound varies depending on the humidity and the thickness of the layer. The purpose of the drywall tape is to prevent cracks that may eventually show through the dried joint compound. Allowing joint compound to dry thoroughly and then sanding the patched surface smooth prepares it completely for fresh paint to be applied.