Repairing ceiling drywall damage appears daunting, but have no fear, fixing ceiling drywall ceiling damage is relatively easy. You only need a few tools to repair cracks, holes, nicks and gouges. Small and medium sized holes can be fixed with an adhesive backed drywall patch. Large holes in the ceiling can be repaired with a piece of drywall slightly larger than the damage.
Instructions
Ceiling Preparation
1. Measure and mark the outer extremities of the damage. Cut out a square of drywall which encompasses the damage using your drywall saw. Use the utility knife to cut away the jagged edges from the square.
2. Cut out a correspondingly measured square of drywall of the same thickness as the ceiling. Fit this piece into the ceiling square. Trim both ceiling drywall and the inset to achieve a good fit. Set the inset piece aside for now.
3. Cut two 1-inch by 2-inch wood cleats to screw the drywall square to. Insert the wood cleats to the inside surface of the ceiling drywall. Arrange the cleats to form the backing for the fitted square.
4. Screw the cleats to the drywall with drywall screws. The ceiling hole should now be a square hole with two cleats to form the backing for the fitted square. Insert the prepared drywall square and secure by screwing your drywall screws into the cleats.
Covering the Joints
5. Make a bucket of plaster mix. Make only enough to use for the first application. Fill the joints, the area of space left by the new square of drywall, with your plaster.
6. Cut drywall tape to cover the length of the joint. Cut the other shorter pieces for the width. Place this tape over the plaster filled joints. Avoid bumps and lumps by not overlapping the tape.
7. Apply pressure with the medium blade to smooth and squeeze out the plaster under the tape. Leave a thin coating of mud to hold the tape in place. The mud will only act to cover the joint and as glue for the tape.
8. Work the small joint knife so the tape will be close as possible to the surface without bulging. Inset the shorter strips of tape and work the plaster out to the sides.
9. Stroke outward with a medium sized blade. Avoid the center of the patch. Stroke length wise with the blade.
Top Coat Preparation
10. Add salt to the plaster, this will help it dry faster. Fill the center with this plaster using a few strokes. This mix will dry quickly enough to start the third coat.
11. Trowel the third coat with a large 12-inch blade. This area is now much larger than the original hole. Smooth away any trowel marks or bumps and let dry.
12. Trowel this coat opposite from the last. Cover the entire large patch with a thicker coat. Taper or feather the edges. Sweep back from the other direction to thin out this top coat. Lightly sand.
13. Start the final coat from other direction to leave a uniform thin coat. Sand this final coat lightly to complete the repair.
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