How to Repair Holes in Plaster Walls

In our area, a lot of homes still have plaster walls. This means harder-to-hammer nails, more weight behind the power drill, and often, large chunks of wall coming out with your anchors or along corners when moving.

Or in our case, a massive ugly hole behind our equally ugly bathroom mirror.


Oh yeah, we had one of these ugly things, with Hollywood vanity lights to boot.

I thought it'd be nice and easy to quick replace our mirror & update the bathroom...until I took the cabinet down and found this (minus the fiberglass tape).

Add some mold & about 5 large stinkbugs flying out at me, and you can imagine the disgust, shrieking, and swatting that occurred. Get out of here, you creepy little jerks.

I didn't want to have to call the landlord and tell her that there was a massive hole in the wall (in case she didn't know), so I looked up how to fix it on my own. It really wasn't difficult, so here's what you'll need:

• Fiberglass repair tape $4
• Joint compound $6
• Putty knives/scraper (I already had several of these at home)
• Sanding block

Now seriously all you do is follow the instructions on the tape box. Here's my version:

1. Place tape over hole. Several layers may be necessary depending on width of hole. As you can see, I did three staggered layers to make sure that the joint compound had somewhere to go when it was spread of the area, and to strengthen the tape. One layer would have allowed it to bend into the hole more, leaving a dip in the wall (still better than the hole, but not the ultimate goal).
   
   
   
2. Spread joint compound evenly over the tape using the appropriately sized putty knife. Fill in the area & cover the grid lines as much as possible. You may need to let dry and add layers to accomplish a smooth, even finish.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Let dry, & sand over area with block to smooth (if your walls are bumpy like mine, you may also need to use texture spray to match- I have yet to do this, so I just have a smooth section of wall where the hole was; our new mirror covers most of it).
4. Paint over the area, and *poof*! The hole is gone :)

Next in the bathroom plan is to get remnants of the old mirror off of the wall (the weird lines underneath the light fixture), add texture spray, paint, and get some kind of curtain in the window (the broken mini blinds have GOT to go, or at least be covered). The vanity may be updated at some point with a coat of paint & new hardware as well, but we shall see.

Super quick, super easy, and super effective for getting rid of the stinkbugs here ;)

See you soon!