When repairing nail holes, nail pops in drywall, or pre-filling large gaps between sheets or in corners, you may use ordinary all-purpose joint compound. But, this compound takes a fairly long time to dry and also will shrink a fair amount, requiring additional coats (and time). A better way to do these types of jobs is to use a sand-able patching plaster (also known as spackle). There are many suitable products, but the one I tried and found to work well is DAP  Sandable Patching Plaster, available at most hardware or home stores. Just make sure the product states “sands easily”.

I used this product to fill in some nail holes and also I used it to fill in a dent in my drywall made from a door handle. In the case of the door handle dent I placed and excess amount of the  patching plaster (rather than skimming it level) just to see if it would sand off OK. It sanded just fine, almost as easily as joint compound. See photos below.

Another place you would want to use this type of compound would be to pre-fill in gaps between two sheets of drywall before you tape. Joint compound can take a long time to dry, and if the gaps are large, ordinary joint compound can even crack as it shrinks, requiring follow-up coats to account for shrinkage. A quick drying, low shrinkage sandable spackle or patching plaster prevents both of these problems!

Two 3-inch Mini Paint Rollers

The mini paint roller has quickly become my favorite tool for repainting a small drywall area that has been repaired. I used to use a regular size roller – my wife was always the one using the diminutive 3″ roller. And you really should always use a roller to finish the painting or priming – a brush or even a foam brush will leave streaks or brush marks where as the roller will blend your repair in nicely.

What I found was that the mini roller does just as good of a job finishing the surface and only takes a little bit longer to roll on paint on a small repaired area. The BIG advantage of the mini roller is that you can dip the roller directly in the paint can, thus eliminating the need for a messy tray to clean up. Also, the mini roller itself is much quicker to clean – you can fill up a mop bucket full of hot soapy water and clean the roller in this water very quickly.  Factoring in the savings in cleanup time, the mini roller cuts the total painting/cleanup time in about 1/2 for a small area painted. Another plus of the mini roller is that you can use it on narrow regions where a full size roller won’t fit.

Another good way to use the roller is to apply paint with a wide foam brush and then work the 3″ mini-roller into the paint. This allows you to put a fair amount of paint on without dripping.

Another good idea by my wife.  But please don’t tell here I said that!