Sheetrock is not fastened properly to studs

[Roger Feeley]

It's really hard for me to talk about how my house was built without using the word 'Bonehead'.

I need to patch a bit of sheet rock but when it was originally installed, they hung it with insufficient screws. They just squeezed out some construction adhesive and pressed it into place. There may be some screws someplace on that sheet but certainly not where I am patching. The spot where I have to patch bowed out away from the stud a bit. So my patch has to be similarly away from the stud.

I should mention:
-- My patch will be about a foot high and about 32" wide spanning three studs.
-- This is where a towel rack goes in the guest bath so I want to put a 2x6 behind the patch to securely hold the rack.

So I'm thinking that I would chisel out any old construction adhesive that shows. Then, I would to make a little jig from a board with a small piece of drywall so I can shim the studs to screw into. I lay the board across the hole and the little drywall spacer tells me where the back side of the new dry wall should be. I would also use my jig to help me install the 2 bys proud of the studs so that the wood backs right up to the drywall.

I'm also thinking that I should glue or screw some cleats on the back of the existing drywall to keep the patch even with what's there.

Suggestions?

[Sam Murdoch]

Sadly you are "stuck" with working with what is there. Your plan for shimming is a good one and yes add some strapping or ply rips cleats behind your existing drywall that will then support the edge of your patch. Lots of screw holes but the tape will cover it all.

[Brett Luna]

I recently had a similar situation. I'm remodeling our staircase and found problems on the upper portion where a 2x6 exterior wall meets a 2x4 interior wall: lots of irregularities in the original construction that were very poorly hodge-podged with shims and blocking. Some of the blocking was even attached at one end and floated at the other. I repaired it with new shims, blocking, and cleats in a couple of places.

In our house, those "boneheads" are referred to as "crack monkeys." Don't get me started on the master bath shower pan!

[Rich Engelhardt]

I ran into similar issues where the previous drywall had been glued and not screwed.
No big deal.

I put a new tub in our upstairs bath and in order to get the tub in, I had to cut a hole in the bedroom wall and install the tub by pushing it into place through the hole.

When I cut out the section of wall, you can see in the picture where the construction adhesive is still on the studs.
I sistered in new studs and installed that one 2x4 cross brace so I had something to screw into when I put the patch in place.
The 2x4 above the hole and the one on the right nailed into the facing wall were there just to add support to the wall while we worked on the other side of it.

This wasn't a load bearing wall BTW.

To install the patch itself, I rough cut the wall to near the size of the patch.
I then cut a piece of drywall off a full sheet that measured larger than the hole - but - the left side in the picture falls half way to the center of the stud so I could screw both the patch and the old drywall.

You can see in the next picture the locations of the screws. I screwed both the patch and the old drywall down so the surface was close to even.
This creates a small depression in the overall wall - but - once the mud is applied and feathered out, it's no big deal.

The next picture shows the patch feathered in and the nail holes filled. I got lucky and everything was pretty flush so I didn't have to mud too far back from the joint.


Last picture shows the patch all done, sanded and painted.


-- My patch will be about a foot high and about 32" wide spanning three studs.
-- This is where a towel rack goes in the guest bath so I want to put a 2x6 behind the patch to securely hold the rack.
YMMV - but - I prefer to use two pieces of 3/4" plywood instead of a 2x6.
I use pocket screws to install the first piece between the studs & locate it the thickness of a second piece of plywood back from the surface.
Then I use TBII and screws (or TBII and brads - depending on what I have handy) to attach the second piece of plywood to the first one.

(does that make sense?)

If it's a grab bar that people are going to put weight on, then I use pocket screws on the send piece also.

I guess you could screw in 2x6 blocks or nail them off with a framing nailer just as well.
I just like using pocket screws because,,,well,,I just like using them.


I'm also thinking that I should glue or screw some cleats on the back of the existing drywall to keep the patch even with what's there.
Yeah - you might have to.
It depends on how much you can draw the old drywall down with screws.

If you can get it within 1/8" to 1/16" of being flush, then you can mud it out and feather it a lot easier than trying to shim the drywall.
I should say @ least I can, I'm not sure how comfortable you are with a bucket of mud and a broad knife.

The newer light weight pre mix is good stuff. It's a lot easier to work with than the old mud used to be.

[Phil Thien]

Suggestions?

I'd use screws to pull the existing (bowed) drywall back to the studs. I'd leave the existing (hard) construction adhesive and run the drywall patch right over the top of that (screw it off). That construction adhesive is your shim, so I'd leave it there.

Then tape and mud.