Home Improvement with Betty the Builder

My husband calls me “Betty the Builder” because I enjoy learning how to DIY as many things as I can in our home. The project I’ve selected for my Networked Learning Project is the one I’ve been avoiding: patching holes in my drywall.

I took pictures of the various holes we’ve inherited and contributed to our walls. I now understand why my prior landlord was adamant about 3M strip adhesives. Nailing pictures to your walls is nice, but tedious when confronted with remaining nail markings.

image credit: S, Candice (2018). You can do it! handwoman and diy series [Visual graphic]. https://naturallystellar.com/

Since I have patches of varying size and concern, I have used a few YouTube and TikTok videos to demonstrate the repair process. When it comes to home improvement and science, I am a kinesthetic learner. I need to feel and simulate what I am doing.

Similar to how there are many different technologies to support educational goals (Mishra and Koehler, 2006), I’ve learned that there are many tools and lessons for patching a hole. Typically the difference between the approaches is due to materials, size, cost, and aesthetic preference-- these were considerations that I did not anticipate, but make sense. Knowing that I am not going to live in this residence forever, it’s beneficial to me for my repairs to be both sturdy and cost-efficient.

This week, I patched small nail holes in our entryway. According to this video, small holes can be fixed with spackle. What I discovered is that a patch kit (made with mesh) sometimes shows through the spackle. In another video resource, a person physically cut out the damage and replaced a square drywall cut-out to better flush with the existing wall. So far, the videos feel like great instructional tools for process oriented learning, but don’t teach me about the tools needed.

pictured: uneven patched hole with patch kit, small spackled holes, drywall damage

References

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.