Patching a hole in my drywall ceiling?

[Doug Crf]

I cut a hole in my ceiling.I installed a whole house fan
and it did not move enough air so I took it down and got a bigger one but it mounted diffrent so now I have a hole about 16''x16'' to deal with.
I already installed the patch up there and it sits in about 1/8'' to 3/16''
so I guess I need to build it up a little with joint compound.
From what I have read I need to do a light coat and let it dry and
then sand it and repeat that a couple times.
Do I keep doing this untill the patch is the same level as the rest of the ceiling and while I am bringing the joint compound to the same level I should not worrie about taping the joint untill the patch and the rest of the ceiling are level?
Another question is at what point do I tape the joint and is a 1/8'' to
a 1/4'' gap around the patch going to be ok or is that to big to try to
fill.Or is that what the tape is for,The gap?
Thanks Doug

[EodEmt]

Doug,

Is your ceiling textured? The difference in thicknesses should not be a problem, as you begin your joint repair use multiple THIN coats. I always start by pushing the mud into the joint/seam w/ a 6" knife (don't worry about being neat at this point), feather then lay my tape in-I am partial to the checkerboard type of tape. Let that dry completely. Lightly sand the rough edges down. The next coat should be done w/ a 8-10" knife. The goal is to spread mud out and away from your seam, particularly on the lower portion. As you progress thru the coats, the seam may end up being 12" total width, but because it is tapered, it is hardly noticeable. Take your time & let the mud dry completely before sanding or applying the next coat's. If your ceiling is textured IMHO, it is much easier as you don't have to be as clean w/ your sanding, as the texture will greatly help hide any imperfections.
I hope this helps & I din't confuse you anymore. Gregg

[Mr T]

If you have not started the mud work yet, and used screws instead of nails, pull the piece down and fir out your joists that much if you can find material to do it. (Are paint stir sticks too thick for that?) It will save you many days of drying time while building up layers.

I am guessing that you are in a hallway with this. You can better hide 2 of the joints if you clean off your ceiling texture from wall to wall and skim from wall to wall when you mud. It will better hide the joints that are parallel with the wall (which probably will be hard to see to begin with). Just a idea.

[mdshunk]

I think you screwed yourself right off the bat when you set your patch piece back from the finished surface. The idea is to make it flush, and tape and mud the edges, feathering out the joint. Building up the whole patch is much wasted effort that would not have had to be done otherwise.

[WVCowboy]

I've seen here and there a technique where you cut your patch piece a little bigger than your hole and remove the extra material leaving the outside layer of cardboard. So if your hole is 16x16, cut a piece maybe 18x18 and remove the 2 inches of material.
You'd then have a patch that was flush with the surrounding and not have to build up with excess mud. Feather out your mud to hide your seams.

[pushkins]

Just like the previous poster wrote, cut a piece of drywall about 2" larger than your hole, now cut this new piece on the back only to be the correct size of the hole making sure not to cut all the way through. Bend back and break the gypsum and remove it from the face paper. This should leave you with a piece of drywall the same size as your hole and 2" extra inches of paper all the way around.
With this done put some drywall compound on the edges of the repair piece as well as all the way around the hole on the ceiling, push the repair piece up into place and using your drywall trowel push up on the paper joint to squeeze out any excess compound. Once this has dried then just add compound as you would any other taped edge (feathering it out) DO NOT add any more tape, the paper edge you left on your repair piece is all you need, any more tape will make the joint very obvious.

[screwexpert]

Mudwork is tricky. Make sure you apply the right amount so it will not create bumps.

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[Bismarck Jack]

Tricky....yes, but is sure is fun!!!

I am only kidding. tape and texture is one of my biggest stuggles. Good luck with your project. It takes a while to get the hang of it, but my first tape experience was on the ceiling too. my problem was trying to make it too perfect and thinking that I could put lots of extra mud on and sculpt it to perfection like an art project. Like art yes, but the art portion is the application of the mud. Put it on right with just a couple layers and try to eliminate as much sanding as possible.

Wish you the best.

[Fischer]

Get yourself a bag of USG brand Easysand 20. It's a powder and it dries in 10to 20 minutes enough so you can lay in another coat. The more you mix this product the faster it will set. This is much stronger than setting compound. If uncomfortable with working that fast use the Easysand 40. The product will not shrink and maybe expand a bit, so leave it slightly indented. Finish with a topping compound or USG Plus 3. The USG brand has the best products that I've used for smaller projects. You can do 3 coats and sanded ready for paint in under 4 hours including drying and sanding, and this if for a couple of rock walls, not just a patch.

You can use cardboard, not the corregated type, but rather like the stiffener from a tablet type, or even strips of notebook paper for a shim, if it's too far indented. I always use mesh tape on repairs.