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Whether you are just moving in or moving out and trying to retain your security deposit, small drywall repairs are always needed to be done in every home. The smallest of holes, like nail holes, can just be filled with a dab of spackle.

Or the old college trick is to use plain white toothpaste to fill small holes. Most dents and dings in walls are a bit larger and are caused by a door knob hitting it to one too many times or whatever. How it got there is not important except to remember not to do that anymore. I like to use a spackle paste and not the light weight spackle. It is easier to work and will let you do more.

A small tub of spackle paste and a 1-1 ½ inch putty knife, plastic or metal knife is up to you and your budget. When filling in the dent remember to only fill the dent. Many times people will want to slop it on 2-3 times larger than the problem area and just create a bigger mess. So fill only the dent/ding itself. Take the knife and scrape away the excess.

Now let the patch dry completely. If there is a lot of excess around the dent/ding filling in some of the good texture a sponge can be used to wipe this away and leave the old texture in place. Once it is dry it is time to try your hand at matching the surrounding drywall texture. With the corner of the putty knife I will take small dabs of spackle and apply them onto the patched area.

When the dabs are half dry I’ll take the putty knife and “lightly” drag it across them to knock them down a bit so they will match the existing texture in the surrounding area. If the “bumps” texture is small and tight together another technique is to take some of the spackle paste and in a separate container mix it with some water to make it sort of runny, a teaspoon of water at a time to cut down the thickness of the spackle paste will allow you to control how thick/thin you want it to become.

To apply the texture crinkle up some plastic wrap like a grocery bag, and dip it into the mixture and dab it onto the patch. You can always add more texture later so remember that less is more. When this is dry you can take a small swipe at it with some sand paper or a damp sponge. Again less is more when sanding too. When all is dry it can now be painted. And if it was caused by a door knob banging into the wall install a door stop.

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