How do you patch a hole in a framed wall?
An electrician was changing a light switch. When dismantling the old one, he damaged the wall.
How do you patch the hole so it's safe and secure?
What is the work process for caulking a hole in a framed wall? How difficult is it? Do I have to do it myself or is it the responsibility of the handyman who messed up?
Answer
The void (space) in the framed and infilled wall is filled with insulation (optionally in bulk).
The photo doesn't show what kind of board it is, it can be particle board, fibreboard, OSB or it can be drywall with a layer of putty on top.
There are various ways to fill the hole:
Near a switch and not an outside one, means there is also an outlet.
We turn off the power, loosen the spacer "legs" of the breaker (removing the front cover first) and remove the breaker from the socket.
If the breaker is not in the way, proceed with the hole.
A "patch" can be installed by marking and outlining the outline outside the hole.
Further on, it is possible to drill a marker or drill some holes, and further into a hole, insert a saw blade onto the metal and cut out a problem area.
Next you need a bar, screw a self-tapping screw into a bar, put it into a hole
Then we screw the wood to the chipboard (or drywall, wood fibre or OSB) using self-tapping screws.
If it's chipboard, you may need to drill screw holes, the metal head embedded in the material.
That is, you need 2 drill bits, one equal to the diameter of the screw "body" and the second diameter equal to the diameter of the screw head.
Next, tape measure the size of the hole and cut a "patch" out of the same material, with the size of the "patch" slightly smaller than the size of the hole.
On a finish we fix a "patch" to the earlier fixed bar (or bars some, it all depends on the size of a "hole".
All, left to putty the joints of the patch, if it is wooden boards, you need a wood putty such as acrylic.
Then dry, sand, prime with drying and grout the "patch" flush with the surface.
You can do without the "patch", mount bars, but nail the bars before nailing, or screwed, but not all screws.
Then between the nails (or screws) screw in the soft wire.
Finish with colored putty, you can use gypsum mortar.
It remains to install the switch in reverse order.
Your photo shows a frame beam, perhaps you can screw self-tapping screws into the beam, wrap the wire and grout flush so you don't have to drill a new hole "under the patch".
Instead of using pre-made plaster mixes, you can simply use gypsum plaster diluted with water.
