My dog at the time ended up chewing through the drywall and I'm just curious as to the best way to fix it. Do I need to use the typical drywall patch or is there another way that would work better?

Thanks!!
Jessica

 

A drywall chewer? Wow, and I thought I had problems when my Australian shepherd ripped the cable TV lines off of the outside wall. Dogs do strange things when they get bored, I guess.

A small hole in drywall can be easily patched with drywall mud (available in small or large buckets at your favorite big box store). They'll have a wide putty knife for applying the mud, too. You may have to install some temporary backing behind the hole, to keep the mud from falling down into the wall cavity (wadded up newspaper works well). To minimize cracks, I'd suggest installing some mesh tape across the opening first. If the hole is too big, you'll have to square off the hole edges (using a utility knife, or small saw), and piece in a chunk of drywall, cut to fit. To avoid buying a full 4' x' 8' sheet of drywall, you could cruise the neighborhood to find a home being built or remodeled--they'll often have some small scraps free for the hauling. You can hold the piece in place with a few 1 x 2s straddling the hole (inside the wall) and screwed into the adjacent drywall. Then a few screws through your patch piece into the wood, mesh tape on all of the gaps, and you're good to go with the mud.

 

I think some pictures would help get you the best possible answer.
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html

 

There ya go. Thanks for the response!

Not exactly a small hole unfortunately :/ Would you still recommend the same fix? Thanks!

 

Ah, those aren't even holes. Sand the area to remove any loose drywall paper and then seal the exposed gypsum with Zinnser Gardz primer. Then you can fill the voids with joint compound, prime and paint.

 

Thanks! Sounds easy enough... How about the wood frame, what would you suggest for that?

 

Good brand of wood filler would do the trick.

 

Definitely coat the exposed gypsum with Gardz or a solvent based primer before making the repair! That prevents the moisture in joint compound or latex primer from dissolving the exposed gypsum causing more problems.

I often use a setting compound like durabond to repair both the wall and the woodwork. You could use regular j/c although it won't dry as hard as durabond or most wood fillers.

Remember it's usually easier to add a 2nd coat of filler than to sand down a lot of excess

 

Thank you guys for all of your help! I will be attempting to fix this today and fear not I will be back if I have more questions