Patching Up Those Holes in your Apartment Walls
Posted on November 19, 2009
Filed Under Apartment Living | 18 Comments
You had some posters and frames hung up on the walls with tacks and nails, but now you’ve decided to redesign your place, take them down, and move a few onto a different wall in your apartment. The problem is: those nasty looking holes are still there…staring at you…laughing in that hole in the wall sort of way.
You’d love to patch them up and forget about them, but aren’t exactly sure how. Learning is worth it though because you’ll have less to worry about when you one day, many years down the line move into a different place.
As always, we’re here to help you! Our apartment hole patching up experts, whom bear the title “Apholepatchperts,” have come up with a “how to” check list to help you get those holes fixed in no time!
It’s Putty Time- Apply a color-matched wood putty to the nail or pin hole. Try to fill in the hole completely then level it with the surrounding area. Allow the putty to completely dry.
A Light Sanding- Sand the putty gently until it’s smooth and level with the surrounding area.
Stop! it’s Painting Time- Once the puttied area seems flush and smooth with the rest of the wall, you’ll want to paint the area the same color as the rest of the wall. In many cases it’s best to go ahead and paint the entire wall to make sure your color matches. Don’t forget to put down plastic paint clothes to protect the carpet as well as tape off the areas of touching other walls and ceiling that you don’t want to get paint on.
Let the paint dry and your holes should be patched up. Depending on the type of paint used and the thickness of the coat put on, you may want to paint over the wall one more time. This sounds more complicated than it really is. Once you have all the supplies, get to working, and it should only take you a few hours! Good luck!
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Tips for living without hot water?I live in an apartment and can't afford to pay my natural gas bill, so they disconnected me and I have no more hot water.
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18 Responses to “Patching Up Those Holes in your Apartment Walls”
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NEW YUCK CITY!
That’s nice
I remember the first time I went to O’Hare. I had just lost my Brazilian passport (in New York, early 2003), and had a military ID (issued in Rio de Janeiro), and the guy who was checking IDs asked if I had a passport. I was freaking out… Lol. Then his supervisor said it was OK for me to travel with my military ID. Ironically, I just lost my passport again… last night. I don’t remember putting my cell phone number on it, thus I don’t think I’ll recover it, sadly ;-(
In Colorado the time limit for returning the deposit is 30 days (unless the lease provides for more time, but not more than 60 days). If the landlord doesn't return the deposit or give you an accounting of it within that time period you could win a judgment for triple the amount that was wrongfully withheld, plus court costs and attorney's fees.
It’s funny we don’t think much about it, Chicago is actually the 4th wealthiest city in the world, after:
1. Tokyo (nobody talks about it, because the Japanese are lame bitches… lol;
2. New York (among the only 2 cities worldwide with a GDP surpassing 1,1 trillion dollars, not so distant from Tokyo numberwise);
3. Los Angeles;
4. Chicago.
3. Los Angeles: 639 billion dollars;
4. Chicago: 460 billion dollars.
According with whatever data info, I found it on Wikipedia, Chicago and Paris have the same GDP. I’m sure it can’t be the same exact number, so Paris comes out as 5th largest economy among cities worldwide.
good for you making him fix it its easy like it says above but I would count on 2-3 coats of mud with sanding in between before painting plus its an apartment if he doesnt get it perfect maintenance should be able to make it right
Lol…
CHI-TOWN sure sounds better than the BIG ROTTEN APPLE.
I used Wikipedia as data source for the GDP comparison between LA and Chicago. LA has a 179 billion dollars higher GDP than Chicago. It may change within a year, but not so likely. I used to travel to Chicago a lot, for business, pleasure and… well… I was in and out of love with someone there… lol… 7 years ago. I thought it was yesterday… lol.
What do you do in Chicago? What kind of work? Involved with performing arts somehow?
Use a lightweight spackle and a putty knife. Holes that large may take more than one coat, but will dry to a nice finish. Good luck.
i think we’re actually wealthier than LA right now cause LA’s unemployment rate is higher than Chicago’s & they dont have federal reserves & futures stock exchanges like we do. hollywood can only do so much for LA but right now not enough.
ha ha im betting u probably aint got no job or may be got one & not makin shit & still gotta live with mommy & daddy in NY. lol!
to to the local hardware store and ask them for a piece of scrap drywall slightly larger than the size of the hole and some drywall compound.. if the hole is jagged, use a knife to make it even. then cut the new piece of drywall so that it fits snugly into the hole. tape it down (you can use drywall tape but it's an apartment so masking tape will work just as well), and spread the compound over it. let it dry compleatly and sand it smooth. if it is a large hole you can buy some expanding foam to fill the gap in the wall behind the hole, but do not patch the drywall until the expanding foam is hard because it may overexpand and will push the patch out.
I agree there is no law I've heard of that makes painting by the landlord a requirement. I'd be very interested to see what Melissa refers to. However, most courts I've seen will not find in favor of a landlord for paint costs if the tenant has been in residence a year or more unless:
1. The tenant made unauthorized alterations to the paint
2. The tenant painted and the job was so poor that the landlord incurred more than his normal expense to re-paint
3. Abuse or excessive wear and tear such as holes, gouges, pen/pencil/crayon marks, large numbers of nail holes or oversized nails/expanding screws/anchors.
One more thing – filling nail holes SOUNDS like a good idea – but often it isn't. I've seen many walls that would not have needed paint except for a well-meaning tenant who left bright white spackle spots the size of a half dollar all over the place…..
California landlord/tenant laws cover these issues.
A percentage of the cost to repaint can be charged to the tenant based on how long they lived there.
Also, a landlord can charge if there was damage (holes in the wall) that made repainting necessary.
You state that you patched the holes, but if you did a poor job of patching, then the landlord has every right to redo the substandard repair at your cost.
As far as carpet cleaning, if you left the carpet dirty, the landlord can charge you for restoring it to the condition upon move in.