# Fixing drywall repair



## ddot (Apr 11, 2010)

i resently added a new electric outlet along with some low voltage wire to my living room. To do so i had to cut a 7" by 20" hole out across my wall. ive patched, sanded, primered, and painted it. But i realized that when natural light hits it, i can see the repair area. it looks like a 7"" by 20" bump on my wall. Does anyone know how to go about fixing this and what steps to take to preventing it from happening in future repairs?

Thanx


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## PaliBob (Jun 11, 2008)

dot, Welcome to the Forum
Drywall or Plaster?
If drywall was the patch made with the same thickness DW?


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## beerdog (Dec 10, 2008)

could be alot of things. How thick did you make the mud top coats? How wide did you make your 2nd and 3rd coats? Since it is a butt joint you should be at least a foot wide. Maybe more depending how thick the top coats are. if you can see it you probably did not make the top coats gradually taper away or did nto feather them well. Different textures betweent he original wall and the smooth repair area will also cause it to show.


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## homerb (May 7, 2010)

I recently had a similar project. My house has an upstairs living room that has built in drywall shelves going all the way from the floor to the ceiling with 3 rows of 3 compartments. 

The center compartment is where the previous owners had their tv, but it was nowhere near big enough to mount a respectable size HDTV. 

So, I decided to get rid of the top 6 sections, and keep the bottom 3 for equipment and cabinet space.

Since the shelves were built in to the drywall, I had to cut it all out, and I was left with a huge wall with all sorts of open spaces in it. This was a perfect opportunity for me to run all the cabling for wall mounting the TV, but a nightmare to patch up.

Instead of replacing the entire wall with new big sheets of drywall, I decided to patch it up using the existing sheets of drywall I salvaged from the shelves. 

I was in the same situation as you, where the patches were higher than the rest of the drywall, and it was especially noticeable with sunlight.

It took me about a week to fix, but what I did was lay down joint compound a 16" 18" outwards of each side of the patch to create a better illusion that it's a perfectly straight wall. 

It took a total of 4 of 5 coats after laying it on, and sanding it down with a long block sander, straight edge, and a light. 

When I was done, I got a few cans of spray texture and matched it with the texture on the surrounding walls. That helps conceal the imperfections as well. 

Here are some pictures of before and after. You'll notice that in the bottom picture, I didn't paint the bottom patches on the shelf quite yet. 

A side note: This was my first time working with drywall on such a large job, so I'm sure I could have used better techniques. I'd like to hear about them as well. 

Homer


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## beerdog (Dec 10, 2008)

"It took me about a week to fix, but what I did was lay down joint compound a 16" 18" outwards of each side of the patch to create a better illusion that it's a perfectly straight wall. "

This is about all you can do. Tapering and feathering it out is the right way. That is how you do butt joints unless you use a backer board. The texture just helps hide it. I am sure a pro would not use so many coats or so much sanding. But then again, they do it every day. A pro may even use fast setting compound to get it done in one day, but that requires more skill.


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## tpolk (Nov 7, 2009)

man that was a lot of bead


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## homerb (May 7, 2010)

tpolk said:


> man that was a lot of bead


what do you mean?

Homer


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## tpolk (Nov 7, 2009)

the original shelves


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