Meditations and Popcorn

[kiya]

Okay, the hole in my wall is now actually a hole; I can see the laths. xiphias, do you have any handy advice on patching same? Kevin says we have plaster of paris, but I'm not sure that's the right stuff.

This time I split the heel of my hand -- only a little cut, really, but I think it was right over one of the veins in my wrist. I've got a bandage on it; it's stopped bleeding and such.

I . . . think . . . I may have gotten the drainage (see also styrofoam cups) dealt with so I'm not going to expire from emotional exhaustion anytime soon. I consider this an improvement. We'll see if we can get the plumbers in.

I have popcorn, too.

Comments

[keshwyn]

Err. I hope you feel better soon, roomiesan.

There's this stuff you can get at paint stores and hardware stores (Home Despot sells it) called joist compound, if it's just cracks, and spackle if you have a hole that needs filling. Fill it in bits and let the spackle dry before you put the next layer on; you can also use gauze as a base and then sand down. Joist compound also worked well for filling the cracks after the spackle dried, at least for us.

Get a good wide putty knife for applying the stuff.

[kiya]

I think I'm feeling better now. I'm not sure of it; I may be too tired to tell.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

If the laths aren't broken, you can just cut a square of wire mesh, cover the hole with that, and then cover the mesh with plaster of paris, joint compound, or spackling. Spackling and joint compound are easier to use, because they are sold in tubs as, y'know, compoundy-stuff things. Instead of powder that you have to mix. But plaster of paris dries harder and shrinks less as it dries.

So, your first question is, how big is the hole? Your second question is, are the laths broken?

In any case, step one is, in a sense, cleaning out the hole. You've probably got crumbly-bits around the actual hole part. If the laths are broken, cleaning out the hole includes cutting the broken laths out. (Don't let my Dad know I said this, but if they're just bendy or slightly splintery, they're not broken. He would say they are, and should be replaced, but I wouldn't bother.)

If you've removed laths, you need to replace them with pieces of scrap wood that are a couple inches longer than the pieces you've taken out. Just screw 'em in. Screwguns are your friends. Screw 'em to the other laths. If you have to screw through plaster to do this, that's okay; you need to repaint eventually anyway.

Then you need to clean out the crumbly bits of plaster. Vaccum cleaners are a good thing. Dad actually takes a sharp knife/razor to the wall at this point and cuts the hole square.

Then you get a piece of wire mesh and cut it to the size of the hole (this is why Dad cuts the plaster hole square -- because he's too lazy to cut the wire mesh into a difficult shape.) And you jam the mesh into the hole. This gives the filling-stuff something to stick to.

Now you need to choose what you're filling the hole with. Joint compound is the stuff that goes between the cracks in drywall. Spackle is the stuff which is traditionally used for this patching job. Plaster of paris is, well, plaster.

I don't really see much of an advantage of spackle over joint compound, personally. I tend to use joint compound instead of plaster of paris. Joint compound shrinks a lot more, but you don't need to mix it with water first.

Take a squirt bottle (plant mister, spray bottle, Bane Of The Cats, whatever it is you call them), and spray the mesh with some water. It makes it easier to work with. Then, using a putty knife, smear whatever you're filling the hole with onto the mesh, fill up the hole, and smooth out the top.

It will probably shrink as it dries, so you will need to repeat this step a couple times over the next few hours or days.

Then paint.

If you want, I could come over and help at some point, but not for ten days or so -- Lis and I are going to be out of town from the fifth until the tenth, and I'm sorta busy until then.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I just remembered one more tip; the other comment reminded me about sanding down: you can do your "sanding" before the plaster is actually dry, with a sponge. This means that you don't get plaster dust around. You do get a truly nasty sponge, though. I prefer "wet-sanding" to sanding, but they both work.

[kiya]

I didn't break the laths as far as I can tell. The hole is. . . a fingerlength wide, and a lath-width tall, with . . . dents to about another lath-width on either side.

I suspect the advantage of spackle over joint compound would be that we have spackle and plaster of paris but not joint compound. . . .

I think we can manage to fix it ourselves, but I'll let you know if we need help. Thanks tremendously for the offer and for the data.

Unasked-for GAS below

[rosefox]

Have you ever considered setting up a "punching wall", that will offer enough resistance to be satisfying, also give way in a fashion that's satisfying, not hurt you, and be easy to patch back together? I'm sure there's a way to do it--probably fairly inexpensively--either as part of the regular wall (mark it with a big X or paint it a different color or something) or as something handy to have set up in a room where you're likely to be when something comes up that has you wanting to punch walls. Dunno if it would sort of miss the point of wall-punching, or if you're not likely to be in a state of mind where you'd remember to punch a particular item or section of wall rather than the section that's handy, but I thought I'd make the suggestion.

I hope you and your hand feel better soon. The comment about plumbers now has me picturing the Mario Brothers as psychotherapists, with interesting results. Yay popcorn!