What Is Used to Repair Drywall?

What You Need to Know About Drywall Repair Materials

Drywall might repair might seem like an easy thing to do. However, it is also pretty easy to do a tremendously bad job at it. For this reason, it is important that you always leave the drywall repair to the experts.

Also called drywall “mud”, there are two common types of joint compound used to repair and patch: light-weight and all-purpose. Both are easy to work with and retain a room-temperature shelf-life of 9 months. The most important tip for buying drywall compound is to buy enough. For large projects, expect to purchase a 4.5-gallon bucket of material.

Many people are confused about the difference among drywall compound, spackle, and plaster. The differences are subtle and hardly noticeable to the average layperson, but they do exist. A compound, joint compound, or drywall mud all refer to the same product and used mostly for larger drywall and gypsum board projects that require more durability, namely to cover joints between panels. Spackle is very similar to the joint compound but used mostly for small household repairs for plaster and drywall. Plaster is a type of wall material found mostly in older or historic buildings. It is a more time-consuming approach to drywall repair in comparison to spackle.

You can purchase drywall repair kits that come with virtually all the essentials for drywall patching and repair. Kits range in quantity, size, and price, but common ones generally include 2-3 flexible knives, a utility knife, an insider-corner knife, hammer, screwdriver, saw, drill, nails, and screws.