I've done this before: bringing a long board into the home, backing up too far and putting a hole in the wall. Don't cry. It's not that bad.
1) Clean the hole: Get all the loose drywall out and cut the hole to a more symmetrical shape
2) Cut a small piece of 3/8" or 1/4" plywood into a strip narrow enough so that it will fit into the hole and long enough so that it will be 4" Longer than the hole.
3) Tie a long twist tie around the center of the wood piece.
4) Push the wood piece into the hole and pull back on the twist tie so that it is snug against the back of the wall with 2" on each side of the wall behind the hole.
5) Screw a drywall screw through the wall and into the wood strip on both sides.
6) Cut a piece of drywall to fit the hole and screw it to the wood strip.
7) Blend the cracks with drywall compound.
8) Let dry then sand.
9) Paint(If you have leftover paint from the wall this is easier!)
That's a great tip and will save me a bunch of time and effort in fixing holes that I've created. I have a large hole in the family room where the previous owners had to gain access to the pipe that lead to the outside water faucet. I'll try this over the weekend. Thanks.
You can also get some drywall tape and mud and tape the hole off, mud over real quick, wait for it to dry, run a little sand paper over it and touch it up with some paint.....Cheaper, less of a headache, and just as effective.
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