In my house, there are maybe three or four outlet boxes and switch boxes where there was damage done to the drywall surrounding the box at some point. There are no structural or electrical issues (well, none that I haven't already fixed at least—some wires were spliced with electrical tape and broken wire nuts!), but cosmetically, I'd like to do better.
Example (see top of switchplate):
For standard one-gang switch plates and outlet covers, I typically buy a wider cover, and that takes care of the issue. However, for a plate like the one in the picture above, it's hard enough finding a plate with a decora cutout and a switch cutout in standard size—much less one in a wider size.
Is there any way of fixing the drywall around a plate like this short of cutting back the drywall to a stud and trying to mount/support new sheetrock so it's flush with the outlet box?
For small nicks, I can just fill them in with spackling compound, but for larger breaks like this, I can't make it look nice and not crumble after a year or two.
Best Answer
I wouldn't start cutting out chunks of drywall to fix a small area like that.
Take off the wall plate and remove any loose or crumbling drywall. Apply a piece of fiberglass tape over the area, mud, sand and repeat as necessary to get a blended finish. Then prime and paint to match.
The fiberglass tape is nice for repairs like this because you can stick it to the wall and then mud on top of, unlike paper tape which you need to apply on top of mud. I've fixed a bunch of similar defects like this and several years later there are no cracks and they look great.