Patent Application
20240318445
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for patching or repairing drywall. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for patching or repairing drywall using a preformed frame or pieces for creating for a frame to secure a replacement section or drywall piece for repair.
Drywall is tough, but it's not indestructible. Over time, gypsum-board walls can sustain ugly cracks or holes. Most drywall damage involves minor indentations, abrasions, scrapes, and holes. These small errors don't require anything more than a small fix. For tiny holes or scrapes, all that's needed is some spackle and a smoothing tool.
Sometimes the damage to drywall is more severe, but not so bad that it needs replacement. In these instances a patch is typically the preferred repair. A drywall patch kit is often the solution for providing tools needed to complete the task. In a typical drywall patch repair, a patch goes over the hole in a first step. Then, joint compound is spread over the patched area and smoothed around the edges to blend with the wall, then left to dry.
The main idea of drywall repair is to replace the damaged area with a new piece of drywall. The easiest way to go about this is to cut a piece of drywall big enough to cover the damaged area, plus some extra space around it. Then, trace the new section around the damaged drywall, to know how much to cut out of the existing wall. This will create a perfect fit for the new piece of drywall. Using joint tape, joint compound, and a new coat of paint, this new piece will blend right in.
Depending on the size of the hole, the new piece of drywall might need additional backing support via two wooden furring strips. Aside from this additional step, the rest of the repair process is the same.
Patch kits known in the prior art fail to provide a simple, affordable, and easy to use means for providing backing support for securing a new piece of drywall into a hole for repair. Almost all of the patch kits currently known attach on the outside of a wall and not the inside which creates an issue of the thickness that those add to the wall that must be feathered out to blend in with the rest of the wall.
Therefore, what is needed is a drywall repair solution that provides a device or apparatus for retaining a repair or patch piece of drywall securely, while not creating thickness and attachment issues, which must be feathered out to blend in with the rest of the wall, which makes a repair difficult.
The present invention is an apparatus for patching or repairing drywall using a preformed frame or pieces for creating for a frame to secure a replacement section or drywall piece for repair.
The present invention makes patching holes of various sizes easy. The basic design for the present invention is a T shaped piece or section. In alternative embodiments, square and circle shapes teach T Shaped pieces or sections that are performed in a single rectangular or circular shapes, which create prebuilt shapes that incorporate the T shape for different applications.
The present invention functions to create a frame around a hole in drywall to secure a new piece of drywall to provide a repair to the hole or other damage, which can be done so without needing to add wood, using a drill, or even any screws. The ridge created by the leg of the T on the T shaped strip fits between the drywall pieces around the hole on the wall and the new piece of drywall is then attached. This process is then repeated for all sides of the hole until a frame has been built. After installation into a rectangular hole in a wall, the T shaped pieces/sections create the new frame used to glue a new piece of drywall to the wall.
Alternative embodiments of the present invention are illustrated where square and circle premade pieces are taught. The benefit of these pre-made pieces is not having to cut and size the strip for each side of the repair shape. For situations where there is a hole in a wall already, but a premade square frame is desired, a cut to enlarge the hole and shape the hole in the wall to the dimensions of the square frame would be made, and then attach that piece to frame it for securing the patch piece in place.
Another solution was to cut the shape in half, into two semi circles or two halves of a square/rectangle, which would allow one to fit each half of the shape into the hole separately without having to bend or flex the half piece. In this embodiment the idea of cutting preformed pieces in half either straight across or diagonally to be able to fit and piece together behind a wall.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein a form a part of the specification, illustrate the present invention and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the invention and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the invention.
In the following detailed description of the invention of exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings (where like numbers represent like elements), which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific exemplary embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, but other embodiments may be utilized, and logical, mechanical, electrical, and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it is understood that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and techniques known to one of ordinary skill in the art have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the invention. Referring to the figures, it is possible to see the various major elements constituting the apparatus of the present invention.
Now referring to the Figures, the present invention is an apparatus for patching or repairing drywall using a pre formed frame or pieces for creating for a frame to secure a replacement section or drywall piece for repair.
The present invention makes patching holes of various sizes easy. The basic design for the present invention is a T shaped piece or section as shown in
The present invention functions to create a frame around a hole in drywall to secure a new piece of drywall to provide a repair to the hole or other damage, which can be done so without needing to add wood, using a drill, or even any screws, which is the most common manner of repair, especially by non-professionals such as homeowners, renters, and landlords.
In one exemplary embodiment, there is a 10 inch by 10 inch square hole in a wall which needs repair. In order to patch the hole, some kind of backing to attach and secure the new drywall cutout is needed. The current method to patch a hole like that is to screw in and attach pieces of wood to the drywall around the hole to create support, or to use a stud if possible. The T shape portion or strip would then be cut it down to 10 inches, so the length of the strip matches one side of the square hole. Next, adhesive is applied to one side of the T shaped strip, and then the T shaped strip is attached behind the drywall around the hole.
The ridge created by the leg of the T on the T shaped strip fits between the drywall pieces around the hole on the wall and the new piece of drywall is then attached as shown in
As shown in
In addition to patching holes of various sizes, the T shaped pieces/sections/strip could potentially be used to finish entire walls or rooms for brand new drywall installation. The inventor is currently testing the T shaped pieces/sections/strip to determine and ensure if the T shaped pieces/sections/strip is strong enough and strongly secures to any two drywall sheets that butt up against each other. If the T shaped pieces/sections/strip is strong enough, the T shaped pieces/sections/strip could eliminate the need to tape over edges between full sheets because it would connect all the sheets together and eliminate any open air gaps between and behind sheets that normally exists, allowing two sheets to flex and bend together with any pressure or vibrations exerted on a wall.
In an alternative embodiment, another way to shape the T shaped strip is to take out the diagonal sides from each triangle. This results in two separate 90° pieces that each have two sides to a rectangle and would allow one to cut each side down to the length needed to shape up the drywall opening. One advantage and purpose of this alternative embodiment is to have two potentially stronger pieces to a rectangle instead of four separate pieces that could have gaps in each corner if the pieces don't line up and overlap well.
Almost all of the known preformed patch kits attach on the outside of a wall and not the inside which creates an issue of the thickness that adds to the wall that must be feathered out to blend in with the rest of the wall. The present invention solves this problem by providing T shaped pieces/sections and preformed shapes as well as the other embodiments taught by the present invention.
Now referring to
The circle piece can use a circular hole saw attachment for a drill to cut out the exact sized hole as shown in
For situations where there is a hole in a wall already but a premade square frame is desired, a cut to enlarge the hole and shape the hole in the wall to the dimensions of the square frame would be made, and then attach that piece to frame it for securing the patch piece in place.
Almost all of the patch kits currently known attach on the outside of a wall and not the inside which creates an issue of the thickness that those add to the wall that must be feathered out to blend in with the rest of the wall. This is a similar problem the inventor ran into with the circular sample shown in
A first possible solution was to make the material out of something flexible so that one could bend or fold the circular cutout to get it through the hole on the wall before expanding it and framing it around the hole, but this was proven difficult to execute in practice both in dexterity and adhesive issues and mess.
Another solution was to cut the shape in half, into two semi circles or two halves of a square/rectangle as shown in
As shown in
Referring to
In yet another alternative embodiment, other possibilities for preformed cut pieces include interlocking mechanisms and/or means for securing the diagonal sides to each other, to lock the two together to keep them flush when installed into a wall hole.
Once the adhesive has cured for any of the pieces and embodiments taught by the present invention, since the material is made of plastic, one can drill holes and install screws into the plastic pieces that overlap on the wall to better hold those pieces in place before attaching the new drywall cutout. Then, the drywall cutout can also be screwed in the same way onto the overlapping plastic frame. This results in better structural support with the plastic frame acting as an anchor.
With respect to
In comparison to the embodiments illustrated in
On the new designs illustrated in
The present invention is applicable to instances when a user does not know how thick the drywall on the wall is, for example whether it's ½ inch or ⅝ inch drywall. The new design embodiment illustrated in
The original design for the individual strip that just has the rib on one side are illustrated in
The square or circle kits as illustrated in
On one side, the inside and outside of the rib would be flush, so when a user places that side on the wall, the ½ inch drywall cutout would be flush with the wall. But, if the drywall turned out to be ⅝ inch thickness, if a users installed it on that same side, the cutout would be ⅛ inch deeper than the wall and not flush. So, the user would have to flip the square or circle kit to the other side that has the elevated inner rib by ⅛ of an inch so that the ½ inch drywall cutout is now flush with their ⅝ inch thick drywall.
The previous example and embodiment is meant to limit the number of SKUs needed when selling the kit and is developed with retail sales being considered.
The inner rib can be elevated by whatever thickness to cover the most common types of drywall thicknesses.
Thus, it is appreciated that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variation in size, materials, shape, form, function, and manner of operation, assembly, and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the above description are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.
Furthermore, other areas of art may benefit from this method and adjustments to the design are anticipated. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63448698 | Feb 2023 | US |
