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This should work for one of those anchors you screw in. The expanding type maybe not. The screw in type are usually white and have big threads on them. Ask at the hardware store.
Clean any loose debris from the hole in the wall and very slightly taper the sides so that the backside of the hole is only a little larger in diameter than the front side, the side you are on. This will make your patch more integrated into the existing sheetrock. DO NOT make the hole any larger than it is now and don't worry if it isn't symmetrical. It doesn't matter. Be sure to blow out any sheetrock dust from the sides of the hole so that your patch will adhere.
Do you have those scratchy pads like my wife uses to scrub pots and pans and stuff? Do you have an extra or two? The pad must be thinner than typical sheetrock which where I live is 1/2 inch.
Get a pad and cut out a circle of the pad that is at least twice the diameter of the hole in your wall.
In the center of this piece of scrub pad tie a piece of string about a foot long. Plain cotton is best as it will more readily accept glue and spackle.
Once the string is tied to the pad, use Elmer's Glue on the pad and thoroughly work the glue into the pad. A lot of the glue will ooze out of the pad on the next step so don't fill the pad with glue, just make sure all the fibers have plenty of glue on them.
Put some Elmer's Glue around the circumference of the hole where the pad and sheetrock will touch each other. Use your finger to apply it to the back side of the hole. That is probably the best way. You want to 'glue' the pad to the sheetrock.
With the pad having a string tied to it and having been saturated with the right amount of glue, push the pad through the hole, center the string in the hole by using the location where the string came through the pad to gauge the strings relationship to the hole. Then hold the pad up against the back side of the sheetrock using the string. You have to hold it while it dries.
I can't remember how long this takes so it might be easier to tie a weight to the other end of the string, place a piece of tape horizontally over the front of the hole and let the string drop over it. Thus the taught string with be in the middle of the hole and the weight will hold the pad against the back side of the sheetrock. Allow this to dry until tomorrow. You don't need a lot of weight, a fork maybe?
Now, get out your small container of spackle.
Get enough spackle out on a plate to more than fill the hole. You don't want to wind up short here and spackle is cheap.
On the plate with the spackle, add two or three drops of Elmer's Glue and mix together thoroughly. Do not add water or thin this down or the patch will sag.
Cut out another piece of the pad that will be large enough in diameter to stay in the hole by itself when you push it in. Cut a slit in the pad so the string will remain in the center.
Work the spackle into the pad so that there are no void spaces. Be generous with the spackle here. You are going to fill up the hole right? Put some of the spackle on the pad you glued in yesterday so there will be a good bond.
Holding the string slightly taut so as to prevent the existing, glued in pad from coming loose from the sheetrock, push the second pad into the hole so that the pad fibers are below the outside surface of the sheetrock. If there are fibers of the pad showing don't worry too much you can trim them with a razor if you think they will interfere or bother you as to how you want your patch to look.
Allow this to dry until day after tomorrow then cut the string off below the surface of the original sheetrock.
Once the intial patch is dry, mix more spackle and Elmer's Glue and fill any depressions to the surface.
You should now have a patch that you can re-drill and into which you can insert an anchor to reattach your curtain rod. You need an ice pick or something like that to drill here okay? Or some means to make the hole the proper size.
Just driving the anchor through might compromise your patch because of the pad reinforcement in there. Plus if you catch up the string in the patch by twisting a tool, you could mess up the patch. Just keep picking the hole out till it is the proper size for the anchor.
This will hold if your curtain and curtain rod aren't extremely heavy. Remember, sheetrock isn't designed to take ANY load so even the most advanced anchor system is at best and educated risk.
If you're like me reading abstract directions is hard for me to do so that is why I tried to break this down. It might help to make a drawing to correspond with what I wrote here.
There are probably other ways to fix this but this is what I would figure is the best repair with limited tools and budget. A reinforced wall segment you can put an anchor in.
Have fun doing this. You'll be glad you fixed it yourself.
I agree! I've completely remodeled two bathrooms. I had never done it before but it was fun, I re-plastered the walls and finished them with a skip trowel technique. I tiled the showers and the floors, put in new sinks and faucet and replaced the toilets. I painted every room in our last house which had 11' ceilings and refinished all the kitchen cabinets, oh yeah and I built a slate facade for our two fireplaces and laid slate in the entry. I'm a 69 year old woman and while my husband is the nicest guy in the world he is just not very handy.
WOW! That is greeeeeaaaaat! (my Tony the Tiger impression) So proud of you. Gives me hoope.
WOW! That is greeeeeaaaaat! (my Tony the Tiger impression) So proud of you. Gives me hoope.
Thanks! It's really fun. I admit that projects take me longer than they would have 20 years ago but so what, I'm retired so all I have is time! There is an amazing amount of information on the internet. The regulars on gardenweb basically held my hand through the cabinet refinishing and I not only found out what the best replacement toilet was, but I learned how to install it on the Terry Love forums. And the pros on John Bridge answered all my questions about tiling
I'm usually a cheery and content person but I've noticed a growing anger at my reduced physical ability thanks to some arthritis and residual leg weakness from statin drug reaction. I'm surprised at how angry I get (at myself) over trivial things...never when I'm around other people (yet). It takes me two or three times longer to do something physical at home that used to just take a few minutes. There are ways to make this easier but I'm still in denial and try to bully my way through some of these tasks and it doesn't always work. I'm always pleased once I get the project finished and like the idea of doing things myself...if I have the right tools and know-how.
I'm trying to paint my room. I'm not rich enough right now to pay someone hundreds of dollars to paint a small bedroom. The painting isn't the problem, although it's a chore I detest and it's only getting ONE coat. It's having to move a bed and dresser so I can paint. I am 57 now and feel such a difference in being able to lift a mattress and move a dresser from when I was younger.
Then something always goes wrong. I got the mattress up against the wall and then the boxspring, which is much lighter--and it turns out a giant black spider was living under my bed. I think it must be the one the cat was playing with the other day. I'm not afraid of spiders, so I got him in a piece of paper and went to throw him out the window--and I knocked the screen out and I don't know how to get it back in. It just doesn't fit and I don't know what the trick is.
Some days it's not worth chewing through the leather straps. I envy women who can just snap their fingers and someone appears to do these things for them. I am just not handy at all.
Ok, going back in there.
I also cannot lift or climb anything. I can't get on the floor to assemble anything so I give the woman who cleans for me a few extra dollars to help me with things like that. I need the help. She could use the money. She moved a giant paper slicer for me, recently. She also helped me get rid of stuff before a move to a groundfloor apartment and helped me clean out my car when I could barely walk. I live in an apartment complex. Of course the complex does everything outside like the landscaping/gutters/lights/sidewalks/trash. They do the painting. You can have it done when you re-sign your lease but it has to be their paint, their color. In my apartment complex they even change the light bulbs in the ceiling fans and track lighting for us. Except for the washer/dryer that is mine, if anything breaks or needs to be replaced, they take care of it. They installed my new hand held shower, too. For getting rid of stuff, every couple of years I'll call Junk Bee Gone (in MD it was called Got Junk) and they take it all including furniture, old appliances, computer paraphernalia, clothes, books, etc. They'll go where it is. No need for me to put the stuff in a central location.
Right now I need a new TV. The issue isn't getting a new one, it's lifting the old one (non-flat screen) to put it someplace until I can get rid of it, so I know what you mean.
I'm waiting to find out what color you painted the room MQ.
It's called Dreamsicle, so if you remember the ice cream, you have an idea!
However, I haven't gotten any further. My retirement was interrupted. I got a call from a former boss who now works for another firm, and they were looking for help on a temporary, contract basis for a specific project and he wanted to know if I was interested. They don't have the in-house resources. I said yes because the money is good, I can do most of it from home, and it's the sort of work I wanted to do in retirement on my own and this is a great chance to establish myself.
I also cannot lift or climb anything. I can't get on the floor to assemble anything so I give the woman who cleans for me a few extra dollars to help me with things like that. I need the help. She could use the money. She moved a giant paper slicer for me, recently. She also helped me get rid of stuff before a move to a groundfloor apartment and helped me clean out my car when I could barely walk. I live in an apartment complex. Of course the complex does everything outside like the landscaping/gutters/lights/sidewalks/trash. They do the painting. You can have it done when you re-sign your lease but it has to be their paint, their color. In my apartment complex they even change the light bulbs in the ceiling fans and track lighting for us. Except for the washer/dryer that is mine, if anything breaks or needs to be replaced, they take care of it. They installed my new hand held shower, too. For getting rid of stuff, every couple of years I'll call Junk Bee Gone (in MD it was called Got Junk) and they take it all including furniture, old appliances, computer paraphernalia, clothes, books, etc. They'll go where it is. No need for me to put the stuff in a central location.
Right now I need a new TV. The issue isn't getting a new one, it's lifting the old one (non-flat screen) to put it someplace until I can get rid of it, so I know what you mean.
Oh yeah. The first month I moved into my condo, my ancient a/c compressor died. It was July of 2010, and it hit 100 degrees for most of the month in NJ. I couldn't stand it. I was having someone come to give me an estimate, but RIGHT THEN I needed air conditioning. I had moved 60 miles from where I used to live for affordability purposes, and I didn't know any neighbors.
I drove those 60 miles after work to my mother's house, because I knew she had several window units in the attic that weren't being used (She does not have or want central air, but the second floor of her house used to be all attic, and it roasts up there.) The unit was VERY heavy, and my brother lifted it into the trunk of my car there, and I drove home.
Of course, when I got home, I was on my own for figuring out how to get it into my condo and then into the window. I could lift it, barely, but I couldn't carry it from the parking lot to the condo and to my bedroom. I had an old bedspread in the back of my car I use for the beach, so I put the AC on the blanket and dragged it into the house, 10 o'clock at night. Got it into my bedroom and went to put it in the window, and then I found that there was no movable screen in the window (I've since had these windows replaced). It was just one big screen that covered the window from top to bottom. I didn't know how to get it out and I was tired and exhausted and extremely hot, so I went and got a scissors and slashed the effing thing and cut the screening out so I could get the air conditioner into the window. At least then I had one room that was bearable. I was 52 at the time, and that event drove home how difficult it is to have no one around to help. But dammit, I did it myself!
It's called Dreamsicle, so if you remember the ice cream, you have an idea!
However, I haven't gotten any further. My retirement was interrupted. I got a call from a former boss who now works for another firm, and they were looking for help on a temporary, contract basis for a specific project and he wanted to know if I was interested. They don't have the in-house resources. I said yes because the money is good, I can do most of it from home, and it's the sort of work I wanted to do in retirement on my own and this is a great chance to establish myself.
So I'm laughing at the unpainted room for now.
There you go. And with that extra money maybe you can hire someone to do that painting and other odd jobs you need done instead of busting your own patootie trying to get it done. That would work for me.
Oh yeah. The first month I moved into my condo, my ancient a/c compressor died. It was July of 2010, and it hit 100 degrees for most of the month in NJ. I couldn't stand it. I was having someone come to give me an estimate, but RIGHT THEN I needed air conditioning. I had moved 60 miles from where I used to live for affordability purposes, and I didn't know any neighbors.
I drove those 60 miles after work to my mother's house, because I knew she had several window units in the attic that weren't being used (She does not have or want central air, but the second floor of her house used to be all attic, and it roasts up there.) The unit was VERY heavy, and my brother lifted it into the trunk of my car there, and I drove home.
Of course, when I got home, I was on my own for figuring out how to get it into my condo and then into the window. I could lift it, barely, but I couldn't carry it from the parking lot to the condo and to my bedroom. I had an old bedspread in the back of my car I use for the beach, so I put the AC on the blanket and dragged it into the house, 10 o'clock at night. Got it into my bedroom and went to put it in the window, and then I found that there was no movable screen in the window (I've since had these windows replaced). It was just one big screen that covered the window from top to bottom. I didn't know how to get it out and I was tired and exhausted and extremely hot, so I went and got a scissors and slashed the effing thing and cut the screening out so I could get the air conditioner into the window. At least then I had one room that was bearable. I was 52 at the time, and that event drove home how difficult it is to have no one around to help. But dammit, I did it myself!
Wow, talking about lugging a heavy window AC unit around reminds me of an incident that happened years ago when my dad had bought a new AC window unit and enlisted my help to put it in. He did the lifting and asked me to hold onto it as he positioned it in the window. Problem was I was holding onto the front of the unit, and didn't realize that most of the weight was in the back of the unit-the part that was outside the window. So I didn't have a good enough hold on the thing and as he let go, and opened the window to position it, the unit slipped out of my grasp, and went tumbling three stories down to the driveway (concrete) below, breaking into I don't know how many pieces when it hit. I know how I felt, but I can only imagine the looks on our faces as we watched that unit tumble to its destruction.
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And with that extra money maybe you can hire someone to do that painting and other odd jobs you need done instead of busting your own patootie trying to get it done. That would work for me.
