How to Repair a Hole in a Plastered Wall

Quickly and Easily Without a Hassle

If you stroll through the rooms of my house, you'll see that it's an ordinary house in that many of the rooms are plastered walls, while a few of the others are wood paneling. The wood paneling is easy to maintain, and small nail holes can be easily filled in by using wood putty.

The plastered walls require a little more time and effort to fix. Usually, small holes occur in the wall from hanging family pictures, shelves, and other decorative items. Once the nails or other fasteners are removed, these holes can easily be filled in with a tad of spackling compound. (Compound is easier to use than plaster powder. It's premixed and it dries quickly.) If you haven't got any spackling compound handy, you can always improvise by using toothpaste. The white type works the best, I've found, and it usually blends in with the wall better. But in a pinch, you can use the gel type of toothpaste for this type of minor repair.

You can also cover up small cracks and dents in a plastered wall with spackling compound or toothpaste too. Make sure the damaged area is free from dirt, oil, grease, et cetera, so the repair compound will stick properly. Then, use a putty knife, or even the tip of your finger, as an applicator. Wet the knife or your fingertip by dipping it in water throughout the application process. The water will help smooth the spackling compound or the toothpaste out better.

Be sure to fill in the damaged area completely by pushing the compound into the crack, hole, or dent. Then, smooth it out and allow it to dry undisturbed.

Holes that are the size of a dime and larger should be repaired with spackling compound only.