How to Repair Uneven Drywall on an Interior Wall

With a little drywall joint compound and drywall tape, you can make your walls look almost like new again.

1. Clean the wall with soap and water to remove any grease, oil or other residue on the paint.

2. Apply a thin coat of drywall joint compound over the uneven area with a 3-inch taping knife. Allow it to fully dry and sand lightly.

3. Go over the same area again with another layer of joint compound using your 6-inch taping knife. Once again, allow it to dry fully and sand the wall lightly.

4. Apply a third and final coat of joint compound using your 8-inch taping knife. By now, the joint compound should be slightly elevated over your surrounding wall surface.

5. Sand down the joint compound until your wall is perfectly smooth and level.

6. Prime and paint the patched area to match your existing wall.

Tip

If your walls have a sand texture finish to them, you will need to paint them with texture paint before putting on the finish coat of paint. Texture paint is found in the paint section of your local home improvement store. It is applied just like regular paint. The above steps work great for walls that are dented or uneven, but not on holes. If you have a significant hole in your drywall, you may need to add a mesh patch before applying the joint compound. This mesh patch gives the joint compound a surface to bond to and prevents it from falling into the hole.