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That time I tried to patch drywall with spackle and learned the hard way

I was fixing a hole in my hallway wall, maybe 4 inches across, and grabbed the first tub I saw. Turns out spackle shrinks like crazy if you use it on anything bigger than a nail hole. Had to scrape it all out after it cracked, then use joint compound in 3 thin layers instead. Anybody else make that mistake when they first started doing their own drywall?
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2 Comments
joel_young
Eh, it's just drywall, not brain surgery.
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tyler_fox41
Did you use the lightweight spackle or the regular kind? I read somewhere that the lightweight stuff is even worse for shrinkage because it has more air whipped into it. I made the same mistake on a 6 inch crack and ended up with a sunken mess that looked worse than the original hole. Joint compound is the way to go for sure, but it takes forever to dry between coats.
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