Electric Box Drywall Repair

One of the common occurences in hanging drywall on a casual basis is cutting out for electric boxes and other holes you may need. Yes, you measured, you cut or sawed and you still missed the box.
Here is a box with the most common problems.
The upper left and lower right corners are damaged from the corners of the box breaking the drywall, when installing the sheet. The left and bottom of the cutout are too large and will not be covered by a standard cover plate. Yes you can use an oversize plate, but is the cost worth it?

The first order of business is to project the box and in this case the outlet. Bring out the blue tape. Carefully tape and cover the box/outlet so that you will not fill the box up with mud during the repair.

Second, remove any loose drywall and paper.

Now we prefill the holes with mud. Speed Set aka Hot Mud is the best solution, as you can put multiple coats on and the shrinkage is less. Regular Mud will work, but puts you on a 24 recoat cycle.

Next we tape and coat our opening. In this case I am using mesh tape. I am also feathering the mud.

Re coat as necessary, so that when you are sanding prior to painting, you are sanding everything. Feather your edges beyond the last coat so you end up with an 'invisible' repair.

Prime, Paint, screw down the outlet, attach the cover.

That is all there is to it. Happy Patching!

Comments

[Austin Remodeling - Live Oak Remodeling]

great tips for the common man, that comes from someonme who does this for a living;)

[alan herrell - the head lemur]

Thanks!
I still do the occasional project.

[JustSomeGuyWhoHappenedUponYourBlog]

Why don't you plunge-cut the sheetrock with an old drill bit in a dremel after it's hung? Plunge the bit near the center and work to the edge, lift to get to the outside of the box and zip around the outside of the box to get a perfect cut.