A typical wall is constructed of vertical studs, on whose sides drywall boards are fastened. Each drywall board is made of a thick central core of plaster, sandwiched between two cardboard facings. Finishing of the wall includes several steps such as tape and bedding, priming texturing, and painting.
The drywall board can be accidentally damaged by something being pushed into it. If the damage is severe, a piece of drywall board is dislodged, creating a hole. Heretofore, prior art has approached the repair in two ways: a) cutting out all dislodged pieces then custom fitting a new patch piece to suit, and b) backing the hole so that filler material can be trowelled in place.
Both approaches are time consuming. Cutting and fitting a new piece is iterative, laborious, and presumes that an extra piece of drywall is available. Trowelling a thick plug of filler cannot be done in one step. Overnight drying is usually required, whereupon shrinking causes cracking. Then the filling process must be repeated. Both of these approaches require extensive refinishing steps including texturing, an art requiring tools and skills most homeowners do not possess.
However, very often the damage is less severe, forming only a local depression in the planar front surface of the near drywall board. Pieces of the brittle plaster core crack and deflect inward (or rearward), while the cardboard facing tears or creases generally along the crack lines. Previously, it was not fully realized that these pieces, themselves are exact-fitting patch pieces, still hingedly attached on some edges by the cardboard facing.
Accordingly, there is a real need for a device that can exploit the advantage of restoring the wall by moving these pieces back to their original flat position. Ideally, such a device would be quickly installed in a way which minimizes the need for final surface finishing.