Even the toughest plasterboard can get damaged—whether it’s a swinging door handle or a slip-up with the vacuum. Dents and dings happen. Repairs can feel tricky, especially if you’re trying to avoid an uneven finish that stands out. This plasterboard installation guide is designed to make the process simpler, with clear steps on how to fix plasterboard walls to help you get it done properly.
What is Plasterboard
Before getting our hands dirty, it would pay to know what we’re working with. Plasterboards, also called drywalls, are panels made of gypsum plaster placed between two layers of thick paper that, when dried, become the sturdy building material we’ve come to know and use.
The manufacturing processes involved in creating plasterboard have evolved to include additives that help the panels be less water absorbent but more resistant to mildew and fire. Its ease of use has made it prevalent in construction, be it in the local pub, office spaces, or even the walls and ceilings in your home.
Plasterboard Wall Repair Instructions
Before anything else, determine the extent of the damage to your plasterboard. Small holes that can range below three centimetres won’t need a lot of work. On the other hand, patching an area larger than that will require more effort, as expected. Assessing the damage properly can help you plan your time and materials better.
Things You’ll Need:
- Filler of choice, such as all-purpose mud, where the compound will be used as both your adhesive, filling agent, and skim coat.
- Box cutter
- Palette knife
- Adhesive mesh tape
- Brush
- Dust mask
- Paint
- Sandpaper, or other sanding alternatives
Fixing Small Plasterboard Holes (approximately 3cm)
- Depending on the finish of your plasterboard wall in question, you’ll need to sand it down to get it even and smooth, making sure that any protruding edges coming from the hole are flattened out.
- Using a palette knife, apply your filler of choice into and around the hole. Packing the filler into the hole while spreading it evenly with your palette knife will help it stay flat. (Apply the filler in thin layers, letting each layer dry before applying the next so bubbles won’t form from the repaired hole.)
- When you’re done with the layers and they’ve dried, wear a dust mask and sand down the filler so that it’s even with the surrounding area. Having a dustpan placed underneath the sanding area will help during cleanup later.
- Once sanded down, and you think it’s all even, use a brush to sweep off any dust from the area.
- Paint over the repaired plasterboard area and let it dry.
Fixing Larger Holes in Plasterboards
How to Cut Plasterboard
With larger holes, you’ll need to remove and replace the damaged areas, so it’s important to first know how to cut plasterboard.
- Grab your box cutter and make a shallow initial incision into the wall with your box cutter as your guide
- Run its blade over the area you’d like to cut.
- Make a few more passes over the cut areas to make it deeper. You don’t need to cut through the board.
- Apply pressure on the board to snap it along the areas where it’s cut.
Pre-made vs DIY plasterboard patches
Next, decide if you’d like to use a pre-made patch or make one yourself.
- Pre-made plasterboard patches: These can be found in your hardware store. They’re sold in a variety of sizes and already include a layer of paper or mesh overlapping the patch to help it adhere to your wall.
- DIY plasterboard patch: You’ll be using a separate panel of plasterboard for this one, and cut it based on the following steps.
Making your repairs
With that done, we can get started on our repairs by doing the following:
- You’ll need to cut out the damaged section of the wall, preferably in the shape of a square, to your desired size. If the hole is located next to wall studs, accommodate the studs into your cutout by exposing a portion of it that we’ll be using later.
- Prepare your patch of choice. If you opted for a DIY patch, make sure that you cut it according to the size of the hole. And if you bought a premade patch, make sure it’s the appropriate size for the hole in your wall.
- Depending on the size and location of the hole, you might need to add support to your patch in the form of a backer board, especially if the hole is not located next to a wall stud.
- Simply get any strip of wood—plywood works perfectly fine for this—and make sure its length exceeds the edges of the hole.
- Apply a bit of the filler to both ends of the backer board, pass it through the wall, and attach it along one of the hole’s edges in a way that the length of the backer board is still visible.
- Let the filler dry before continuing.
- Apply filler on any exposed studs and backer boards and along the inner edges of the hole.
- Without letting the filler dry, install your patch of choice into the hole and let the filler dry.
- If you went DIY, you need to use adhesive plasterboard mesh tape for this step. Go over the edges of the patched area with the mesh tape. Don’t let it overlap so that the surface is relatively even.
- Apply a thin layer of filler over the areas with mesh tape and let it dry.
- Make a second layer, now including the surface of the plasterboard and let it dry.
- Wear a dust mask and sand down the surface so it’s level with the rest of the wall, and make a pass over it with a brush to remove any remaining dust. As mentioned in the prior section on small holes, having a dust pan under the sanding area will help in the cleanup later.
- Finally, you can paint over the repaired plasterboard area and make it look new.
Choosing high-quality plasterboard
Plasterboard falls under many brand names, and they come in a range of qualities and sizes that can quickly be overwhelming to go through. To help you with your upcoming project, our extensive stock of Siniat’s sturdy and durable plasterboards can make decision-making easier for your Perth home.
With features ranging from fire resistance, moisture resistance, insulating properties, noise reduction and so on, Siniat has plasterboard to answer your every need. Contact us now at Westgyp Building Supplies for any plasterboard project that you are tackling.