Cheap’o Decor: Home Repair Basics

October 10, 2008 by Dave  Send to a Friend

As I was writing last week’s piece, I realized I was throwing around a lot of terms that most people are probably unfamiliar with. So, I thought I would dedicate this week to going over some of the basics of home repair and decorating, to serve as a reference.

In my experience, the number one home repair project for the under-30 set in a city is fixing their place before they move out. You know, undoing all the damage you’ve done so you can get your security deposit back. I realize there are some people reading this who aren’t renters, but I’d guess they are in the minority here.

So when it comes time to move, especially facing Depression 2.0, you’ll want to get all of that deposit back. Unless, of course, you are being forced out because the owner has defaulted on the mortgage for your group house. In that case, don’t fix anything.

I know how it goes, though. You wait until the very last possible minute to finish moving all of your belongings… only to realize the place is still a mess, there are holes in the wall, and damnit you forgot you had painted your bathroom teal. Oh, and you’ve got to return the keys by the end of the day.

Fixing a hole in the wall (drywall)

Small holes

Small holes are the easiest to fix. We’re talking tiny. You know, how you thought it would be cool to frame and hang every record and single by Guided by Voices on your wall? Damn, that was a lot of nails and now you’ve got a lot of little holes. You’ll want to get a putty knife (plastic is fine, should run about $1.99) and a tub of lightweight spackling ($2.99 or so, depending on brand). Put a small amount of spackling on the putty knife and smooth it over the hole. Allow the spackling to dry. When dry, lightly sand over the area to ensure smoothness.

Bigger holes

So you’ve got a bigger hole in the wall. We’re talking an actual hole, not just a little nail hole from hanging a frame. Maybe you bashed the drywall with a doorknob, or maybe you have an anger management problem. Perhaps a little from column A and a little from column B. In any event, you’ve got a hole bigger than say 2″ wide. You can’t just fill it with spackling. That’s not going to work. For this project, it’ll be a bit more work.

For a hole between 2″-4″ (most common holes), you can purchase a mesh drywall repair patch. These run about $5 are generally self adhesive. Cut away any broken drywall around the hole, and lightly sand the edges. Apply the mesh patch over the hole. With a putty knife, apply joint compound over the hole. You can buy a small tub of joint compound for about $3-4. Apply the compound in very thin layers over the mesh screen. You’ll want to “feather” it as you get farther from the hole, that is, apply lighter and lighter amounts. Once the compound dries, you will need to lightly sand until the surface is smooth and even.

Mesh patches come in sizes up to 8″, and if the hole is larger than that it will require significantly more work to repair. I’m not going to tackle a project like that this week. Perhaps in the “so your house was just trashed by a killer party” column.

Undoing your sweet paint job

So say you painted your apartment, room, etc. You picked out that perfect color, or you bought some “oops paint” for $10/gal and had a drinking and painting party. However it got up there, you’ve got a color on your wall that isn’t white. And your landlord is saying you have to paint it white or else you won’t get your deposit back.

“Duh, I’ll just buy a bunch of white paint.”

Well, this is technically correct. But I’m going to try and save you some money. If you painted with any sort of non-pastel color, you’re not going to obscure it with one coat of white paint. And these days, it’s not that easy to buy “white paint.” Do you know how many “shades” of white there are? Here’s a hint… most paint lines have at least 20 shades of “white.”

To save the most money, you’ll want to buy primer and then a ready-mixed shade of white. Primer is cheaper than paint, and will provide your basecoat. This will improve the “hiding” of your top coat. Hiding simply refers to a paint’s ability to cover up whatever is underneath it. For the primer, I recommend using Kilz 2 Latex-Based Primer. It runs about $15-16/gal. For the top coat, any store brand white will do, most likely it’ll be called “Ultra White” or “High Hiding White.” Expect the ready-mixed white to run about $20/gal depending on where you get it.

If you don’t want to deal with painting all over again, rollers and all of that business, think about a paint sprayer. You can often rent one from a paint store. Check out the Duron store on 14th Street (2511 14th St) for more information. You can also purchase small paint sprayers for around $50-75 depending on size, power, etc.

For quick cleanup for an empty room/apartment/etc…

Check out a Shop Vac. You know, those sweet Wet/Dry Vacs you can use to clean up vomit and whatnot in an industrial setting. A lot of local hardware stores will rent one to you for about $10 a day. If you’ve removed all your furniture, and just have hardwood or tile floors, the Shop Vac can pick up most debris and God knows what else that has been lurking. It’ll be much faster than anything small like those battery powered Dustbusters that were popular in the early 90’s.

That’s about all I’m going to delve into for this column. Coming up soon, I’ll be featuring a “my Ikea furniture is breaking but I can’t afford to buy anything new” piece.

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