Q - Drywall patch

I had to do plumbing repair and cut out 12"x6" from the wall. Now I need to close the opening. I placed two 1x2's on the back side of the wall, fixed the wood strips with screws, and screwed the cutout back on the strips. Wall and the cutout are pretty even.

According to youtube, I need to use a tape or paper on the seam. Can I just bevel the joint (V-shaped) and fill the groove with joint compound? I acknowledge the V-shaped joint is going to be weaker than taped-over.

My goal is to minimize sanding (dust generation) because the patch (actually multiple) is in a bedroom. Thank you.

 

Tape prevents the joint from cracking. If you do the work without tape the odds are that joint will crack. I often use a wet/damp sponge to smooth out j/c when I need to keep the dust down. You do need to apply the j/c neatly as the sponge will smooth the j/c but not necessarily level it out.

 

Thank you for the wet sponge tip.

I made a trial patch without tape. Wet the groove with water spray. Squeeze joint compound with finger into the groove. Groove is half filled. Let it dry. Fill the groove. Let it dry. Aupply joint compound for the best third time to fill shrinkage. Let it dry. Not very efficient. Not recommended except that no dust is generated.

 

maybe, just maybe if you use a setting type of joint compound the joint won't crack without tape
Also ifyou mist the setting mud with water just as it sets you can slick it down almost as smooth as glass. Then as it sets use a damp cloth to work the lap down to nothing. I use 5 minute set mud. You might be better off learning with 20 minute..

 

Tape is needed, personally I use the fiberglass tape that is self adhesive, it's the simplest material to use.

You are going to need a 6" knife to spread an even coat of compound over the joint so that when done it isnt viable, trying to squeeze compound into the joint is not sufficient to hide the joint.

You can use a rag on a block of wood for rough sanding but that final very thin coat is going to need to be dry sanded to feather it out.

Two heavy coats of PVA primer to get a texture on the patch which should also be feathered out onto the existing wall.

 

Thank you for the tip of smoothing with water. Never thought about it. I couldn't see this on any youtube.

I still have a few more patches to do. I will use the fiber tape method. Thank you for how-to texture with 2 heavy coats of primer. Will give it a try.

 

A lot of people like woven fiberglass tape. I think they likeitbecause it is somewhat adhesive and can be applied without getting your hands dirty. It is more expensive than paper thereforeit must be better. it has the advantage over paper of greater tensile strength and thedisadvantage of less racking resistance. I orefer FibaFuse. Google it. It is stronger than paper has racking resistance and I think isthinner than paper, a gopo quality in patches. It dfoes not work as well in angles as paper and has the disadvantage that one is handling fiberglass.

When using woven fiberglass tape the lore is it works better with setting mud than only drying mud.