Here is a trick for repairs that are a little bit bigger than ½” but are still too small to use the spray can texture. We will discuss a method for creating a light texture over a repair that is from ½” in diameter to about 3" in diameter. For tips about how to repair the damage to the drywall and get it ready for texture, you can refer to our article, Minor Drywall Repairs, and also our Ask Eli answer about how to patch nail holes in drywall. This article assumes that you have already repaired the drywall and are ready to texture. If you repair is smaller than ½” you should check out our article about doing light texture for very small repairs.
Things you will need:
Drywall mud or spackling that can be thinned with water
A wisk broom, or small handheld broom with large stiff bristles
6” drywall taping knife
Mix about a half cup of the drywall mud to the consistency of pancake batter. This works well in a small bowl with a fork (just like making pancake batter). You won’t use all of it for this small of a repair but you need plenty to use this method. Put the mud on a flat surface and spread some of it to about 1/8” thick. Dip the wisk broom in the 1/8” thick drywall mud. This will put little balls of the drywall mud on the ends of the bristles. You can tip the wisk broom to one side so you are only dipping the bristles from one side of the broom in the mud. Then tap the bristles on the repair to leave little dabs of drywall mud on it. You may need to do this several times to get the desired results. Each time you do it you should turn the wisk broom a little to make the pattern more random. You may need to spread more mud out on the flat surface each time you dip the wisk broom in it. You want your texture to overlap the existing texture a little bit so they will blend together.
