How to Fix and Cover Nail Holes

You’ve probably seen tips and tricks on how to hang pictures and shelves, but an equally important topic is its corollary: how to fill nail holes left behind by these efforts. Because whether you’re a renter who’s preparing to move out (and, hopefully, take their security deposit with them) or a homeowner who’s ready to put their house up for sale, filling nail holes is a necessary—and not always super simple—task to undertake. Do it wrong and your attempt at a fix might look even more glaring than the original nail hole.

The amount of work it takes to fill nail holes depends on the size and shape of the holes themselves. As you might be able to guess, a small hole, such as one left over from a 4X6 framed print, is going to be a touch easier to deal with then the larger holes left over from heavy shelves that had to be studded into the wall. Below, we’ll go over the basics of how to fill nail holes both small and large, including the tips you need to know to do the job right.

Supplies that you’ll need to fill nail holes

You don’t need a lot of supplies to fill a nail hole—just a few basics:

  • Spackle
  • Putty knife
  • Fine-grit sandpaper
  • Paint and paintbrush (if you intend to paint over the sealed hole)
  • Adhesive-backed fiberglass mesh tape (for filling large holes)

You can consolidate some of these tools by opting to purchase a spackle/putty knife hybrid—a tool that allows you to squeeze out spackle and smooth it onto the wall without the need to buy two separate tools.

Filling small nails holes

Filling small nail holes is a pretty straightforward process:

Apply spackle

Let spackle dry

Sand the spackled area

Paint

Filling large nail holes

The process for how to fill nail holes that are a bit larger in size (think ½ inch diameter or larger) is pretty much the same as filling small nail holes, with the added caveat that you’re probably going to want to add some reinforcement by means of adhesive-backed fiberglass mesh tape. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Your first step will be to apply a layer of adhesive-backed fiberglass mesh over the nail hole. This mesh tape is a bridging material that adds additional support and stability to holes of a certain diameter—up to 1 ½ inches. Sand the area around the hole first to ensure that you have a flat surface for the adhesive, then cut a piece of mesh to size. You’ll want it to extend about 1 inch around the hole on all sides.
  2. After the mesh is in place, apply your spackle using the same techniques mentioned above. To ensure that the spackle properly adheres to the mesh, allow it a longer dry time—at least five hours, though preferably overnight.
  3. When the spackle is dry, use your fine-grit sandpaper to smooth it out. You may notice that the layer over the mesh is a bit thin, but that’s okay. After sanding, apply a second layer of spackle, smooth it out, and allow to fully dry again.
  4. Give the second coat of spackle another sanding after it’s dry. If it still doesn’t fully cover the mesh, apply a third coat.
  5. Once any ancillary coats of spackle are dry and sanded, use a small paintbrush and paint the covered up hole as needed.

How to make homemade spackle

If you only have a couple tiny nail holes to fill then it might not be worth buying an entire container of spackle. Fortunately, there are a few different ways to DIY it.

Use baking soda. Make a paste by mixing a half-tablespoon of baking soda with white glue until it turns into a pliable paste. Use a plastic knife to apply the paste to the hole and smooth it out, and allow to dry fully before sanding.

Make a play-dough inspired filler. This recipe has you following a traditional homemade play-dough formula, with a little twist. Mix together four tablespoons of white flour with one-third tablespoon of salt. Then turn the mixture into a paste by slowly adding in paint, primer, or varnish. As an added bonus, you can use the paint color of the wall as your mix-in so that the homemade spackle blends in right away.

Use toothpaste. Yep, you can use toothpaste to fill a small nail hole, just go for the white paste kind. It might not be quite as solid as other DIY methods, but it will work in a pinch, particularly if you’re a renter trying to fill nail holes before your landlord comes by.

Use a bar of soap. Here’s another do-it-yourself option that won’t provide a permanent fix but will serve as a quick way to fill in tiny holes. Take a white bar of soap and rub it over the hole to fill it in. Use your finger or a dry rag to wipe away any excess in the area surrounding the hole.

Keep in mind that all of the above options will get the job done, but they’re not going to look quite as nice as professional spackle will. However, if you’re concerned more with getting the nail hole filled than providing a long-term solution, then any of these options should work for you just fine. Just be wary that they might not work on nail holes that are bigger than 1/8 inch in diameter.

To paint or not to paint?

Whether or not you decide to paint over your filled nail hole is up to you, but aesthetically you’re probably going to want to do it if you’re spackling over a hole that is highly visible or on a non-white wall. To keep costs down and limit waste, go to the hardware store and inquire about getting an 8 ounce paint sample instead of buying a full jar. Snap a picture of the wall in natural day light so that you can be sure to get a shade that’s a perfect match—or at least as close of a match as possible.

Rather outsource this task to the pros? Check out our article on 8 ways to find a home service provider and bring someone in to fill those nail holes for you.