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Location: Longview, Washington, United States

I live in a small town in Washington State, USA, with my wife, two sons, two dogs, a cat, and family nearby. I work at the local community college as an I.T. Specialist. In March of '02, we bought a 70-some year old house that needed a lot of work. When I'm not working on the house, I like to throw pots, be outside, and read a lot.

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Saturday, May 14, 2005



One of the many many things in our house that I haven't gotten around to fixing yet are the oversized cuts in the sheetrock, cut for the light switches.


I'm undecided as to whether I should try to just trowel in spackling paste or whether there is a better product. I want to build out from an edge but stop before spilling into the electrical box instead of spanning a gap like I've done in the past when repairing the sheetrock. Maybe some kind of foam that hardens up and can be sanded would be better?

posted by Scott in Washington at 8:48 AM |

4 comment(s):

  • I think that using the regular drywall seam paste is probably your best bet. It is easier to work with than most other materials (automotive bondo comes to mind). The only problem is that the stuff will obviously have nothing to 'grip' on to if you just jam it in there and will eventually crack and begin to come apart just from the use that the light switch cover will see over the years. I would reccomend this procedure:

    Remove switch cover

    using a razor knife delicately cut a channel in the drywall surrounding the switch hole. It should probably be about half the thickness of the drywall and an inch or more wide.

    get a roll of screen door material from your local hardware shop and cut out a square that fits securely in to the channel you cut. The center should be cut out to accomidate the switch box.

    use some cardboard, or even better some popsicle sticks to reinforce the screen door materials back.

    use small, small, small, staples to affix the screen door material to the channel.

    gradually build up the paste in thin layers on to the screen and in to the channel.

    sand

    paint.

    something like that should work if you take the time. It sounds kind of silly but it isn't all that different from how holes in other stuff (like fiberglass) is repaired.

    Steve

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5/14/2005 12:34:00 PM  

  • You so totally want Great Stuff! Buy a can and fill the area around the box to just below the surface of the drywall. It will foam up above the surface of the drywall Let it dry overnight and then take a cheapo serrated knife and saw bits of it out until it's about 1/8" to 1/4" below the surface of your drywall, and then spackle on top of that. Piece. Of. Cake. :-)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5/14/2005 01:20:00 PM  

  • The only problem I can see with that approach is that the foam might expand and contract with moisture changes and crack the spackle on top of it after a time. If 'Great Stuff' is moisture resistant then I'd have to say that Brian's idea sounds better than mine.

    Steve

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5/14/2005 05:56:00 PM  

  • Thanks guys. I'll go to hardware store and ask from some great stuff sooner than later.

    Scott

    By Blogger Scott in Washington, at 5/15/2005 04:14:00 PM  

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