My Daughter Broke the Towel Bar (again)

Getting ready for bed one night after getting out of the shower my wife told me that my 5-year old daughter broke the towel bar (again). Like most kids, she enjoys hanging and playing on monkey bars so to her that towel bar is just a monkey bar on the wall. The problem is that these bars are not built to hold more than the weight of a towel (less than 1 pound).

How to repair drywall

As a homeowner, it’s important to get really good at DIY projects instead of hiring a contractor who will not want such a small job. This will keep maintenance costs down so you can keep (rent) money in your pocket for mortgage payments instead of paying for expensive contractors. Luckily I enjoy DIY projects because it means I get to use my tools which is always fun to me. It’s like the same kind of joy my children get when they play with their toys (after finishing homework obviously).

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Tools and Materials for drywall repair:

The bathroom wall material is drywall so this project is really just a drywall repair. Drywall repair starts with using joint compound, putty knife, and sandpaper sponge.

Joint Compound

Putty Knife

Drywall Sandpaper Sponge

For smaller jobs, here is a drywall repair kit

If you are looking for tools and material for a smaller job, I recommend buying this joint compound kit that includes a small tub and putty knife.

Dry Wall Repair Kit (for smaller jobs)

I have a big job because my daughter destroyed the wall

For me, I know that because I have kids that this will not be the only time I repair a wall so I purchased a larger bucket of joint compound a few months back. After some digging around I found my old bucket of joint compound sitting in my shed however it dried out after many months of non-use.

Money-Saving Tip: add water to hardened joint compound to restore the softness

A good money-saving tip to remember is that joint compound is like Play Doh for kids so you can just add water to hardened joint compound and let it absorb overnight to try and save the batch. The trick doesn’t always work because it depends on how old the joint compound is but it’s always worth a try to save a few bucks. After waiting overnight I opened the bucket of joint compound and found that it worked for me again.

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Step 1 prep the damaged area

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I started by prepping the damaged area by cleaning the broken pieces so it’s going to look worse before it looks better. The hole became bigger because I had to remove all the loose debris around the hole along with any cracked drywall pieces to ensure that all edges are flush with the wall. I noticed during this step that the paint looks like it’s peeling so my guess is the existing light blue bathroom color was not the original older paint which looks like white. Also, I can tell that no primer was used underneath the existing paint job which is why the paint is peeling. Anyways back to fixing my hole. Doing the best I can peeling the paint corners and scraping off any rigid corners I am now ready to apply joint compound with my putty knife.

Step 2 apply joint compound

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I prefer to apply a generous amount of joint compound covering the entire hole and its outer edges so that evidence of the hole is no longer seen. This technique accounts for the natural shrinkage when the joint compound liquid dries to a solid-state plus I can always go back and sand down the remains to be flush with the wall. However, my daughter really destroyed the wall this time therefore due to the size of the hole, the joint compound started to crack after an hour so I had to apply a second layer of joint compound.

Step 3 sand the wall

After waiting for the joint compound to dry overnight and checking that no cracks were left, I sanded the wall flat. My wife wanted me to lower the towel bar this time from its previous height to make it easier for the kids to reach for a towel. I was thinking about the opposite and wanted to raise the towel bar to keep it out of reach until my daughter gets taller. Anyways, I obviously lost that decision so I drilled new holes into the wall for the new lower towel bar height.

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Step 4 paint the wall

Since we do not have the exact wall color paint, I will have to rely on Home Depot’s paint-matching technology which usually gets pretty close. I can just buy a sample jar of 8 ounces which is enough to paint the patches. (I’ll have to do this later and update with photo).

Step 5 install towel bar

Since I have the holes drilled after sanding, I just had to install the drywall anchors. If you don’t own a drill I would recommend buying this Self Drilling Drywall Plastic Anchors with Screws Kit which makes things easy by just hammering and tightening the anchor flush with the wall.

Self Drilling Drywall Plastic Anchors with Screws Kit

Overall I think the repair came out pretty good as you can’t really tell where the original hole was. I just need to paint the patch marks and it should be as good as new. Let me know if you have any questions or comments about repairing drywall or anything about DIY projects no matter how simple or difficult.

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