Professional Painters Follow These Steps For How To Fix Nail Pops In Drywall Before Starting The Painting Process
Nail pops are unsightly and become even worse if you paint over them. Thankfully, we know how to fix nail pops in drywall quickly and easily.
In this post, you can find out what nail pops are, what causes them, if you should be worried about them, and how to fix them in your Novi home.
What Are Nail Pops?
If you look at drywall and see small little circular areas poking out from the wall, that’s a nail pop. They don’t stick out far, but it’s enough that you can see them clearly.
Everyone hates nail pops because they ruin the beautiful, uniform look of their walls. They can even crack the paint as they start coming through the drywall.
Though people call them nail pops, nails and screws can both pop out of place.
What Causes Nail Pops In Walls?
The cause of nail pops in walls is the expansion and contraction of the wood frame behind drywall. Homes are built with wood framing you attach drywall to. As the seasons and humidity change, the wood framing expands and contracts. As this happens, the wood loses its grip on the nail or screw. The nail or screw starts coming out of the frame, forming a nail pop.
Should You Be Worried?
If you only see one or two nail pops there’s nothing to worry about. It’s a good idea to keep an eye out for more, and not just in that area. Nail pops may just be a cosmetic problem, but they can also point to structural issues.
You may need to start worrying if they keep popping up all over your house. They could just be improperly positioned or it may point to a structural problem.
If you start seeing them everywhere, that usually points to a deeper structural problem. At this point, it’s a good idea to contact a foundation expert.
Tools For Fixing Nail Pops
- Scraping tool
- Screw gun
- Hammer
- Inch-and-a-quarter coarse-thread screws
- Patching tools
- Patching material
- A medium-fine coarse sanding sponge
How To Fix Nail Pops In Drywall In 7 Steps
1. Scrape the nail head clear
First, we have to use the scraping tool to scrape the excess drywall off of the nail or screw head. This is so we can reach it to be able to work with it.
2. Put the popped nail back in
We’ll take a screw gun and loosen the popped screw. This makes it easier to screw back into the wood frame behind the drywall. Screwing it back into the wood frame helps level it again so it’s not popping out.
If it’s nail we’ll hammer it back into place, trying not to damage the drywall more than necessary.
3. Add drywall screws to the wall
Now we’ll add screws one inch above the original screw and one inch below it. This adds more security to the frame so the nail pop doesn’t happen again in the same place. These screws basically replace the original nail or screw.
There’s not much point in putting it back in the wall for it to pop back out again in a year or so.
4. Check to make sure the area is flat
We want to make sure none of the screw heads are popping out. We do this by running our hand over the area to literally feel it out.
Checking our work is an important step in how to fix nail pops in drywall. It makes sure that we’re doing our job right and that we aren’t creating more nail pops in your wall.
5. Patch the holes
Patching the holes adds material to the wall that seals the holes. Then we can paint over them.
Just take the patching tool, scoop up some of the patching material, and put it over the holes. Smooth it out some and get ready for sanding.
6. Sand the patched area even
After the patching material dries, it’s time to sand it down, making it even with the wall. This makes sure that when we paint it, you can’t see the patch.
7. Check the wall to make sure it’s even
Once again, we’ll make sure everything is even. This is to make sure your walls look amazing once we’re done painting them. We’ll run our hand over the area to make sure it’s even and doesn’t need more sanding.
Now we can prime and paint your wall!
