How to Fill Screw or Nail Holes in Drywall

Equipment / Tools

Materials

1. 
   

   Inspect and Trim the Face Paper

   If any of the face paper on drywall puckers outward, this needs to be trimmed before you cover the holes with joint compound. You can’t simply smear joint compound over these areas—the hole needs to be concave in order to be smoothly covered. This usually occurs when screws or wall anchors are extracted from the wall, but it also sometimes occurs when drywall screws are driven too far during installation, breaking the paper and causing it to pucker outward.

   Slight extrusions in the face paper can sometimes be forced inward by pressing them with the handle of a screwdriver or drywall taping knife. If this doesn’t work, use a utility knife to cut through the paper around the pucker, then peel away the paper and enough gypsum so that the hole is fully concave to the wall surface. Brushing your hand over the area will tell you if there are any outward puckers remaining.

   

2. 
   

   Load the Drywall Knife

   Dip the end of a drywall knife or putty knife into the joint compound (mud), a process known as buttering. Ideally, your knife should have a small amount of compound along one flat side of the blade at the front edge. Avoid overloading the knife, as this just leads to a mess.

   If necessary, use a shop towel or paper towel to wipe off excess mud, especially from the side edges of the drywall knife. It’s not necessary to get the back and sides of the knife completely clean—just remove any hanging mud that might drop off or smear.

   

3. 
   

   Apply the First Pass

   Holding the knife at an angle to the drywall with the mudded side facing the wall, press the front edge of the knife against the wall and draw it across the hole. The flexible knife blade should bend slightly as you draw the knife.

   Check to make sure the hole is filled flat with joint compound. If you notice any indentations, fill them immediately with a follow-up pass of the knife. At this point, don’t worry about getting the surface perfectly flat.

   Immediately make a second stroke across the hole with the drywall knife, this one perpendicular (at 90 degrees) to your first stroke. The purposeof this stroke is to flatten out the joint compound so it is perfectly flush with the wall surface. Use the edge of your knife to scrape off theexcess mud. Don’t make repeated passes of the knife, as this can pull the joint compound from the hole.

   Let the joint compound dry completely; with small holes, this usually takes less than one hour. And with very small holes, this single coat of joint compound is often enough to fill the hole smoothly.

   

4. 
   

   Apply a Second Coat

   Joint compound shrinks slightly as it dries, so you will usually need to apply a second coat of mud with any hole that is larger than a small nail hole. This is especially true if the hole is somewhat large, when cracks can often appear in the joint compound as it dries.

   When the first application is fully dry, apply more joint compound to the knife and apply a thin second coat over the hole. This nearly always fixes any remaining pits and depressions. Allow this second coat to fully dry—at least one hour.

   

5. 
   

   Lightly Sand (If Necessary)

   Once the second coat is fully dry, run your hand over the patched area. If it feels rough, then use fine sandpaper or a fine sanding sponge to lightly sand the area and bring it flush with the surrounding drywall. Make sure not to sand so aggressively that you damage the face paper.

   Tip

   When patching screw holes in textured drywall, you will need to follow up by re-texturing the patch. Cans of spray-on texture are available that allow you to spot-texture sections of your wall.