I was putting up some shelves in a closet this weekend. Second hole I drill into the drywall is for an anchor, and I hit a pipe. A decent amount of water shot out before I could turn off the water. I ripped out the insulation and drywall for that section of the wall between the studs and the pipe is fixed. I've got a fan and dehumidifier on it now.

I've never done drywall before, and except for the above, am usually pretty handy. How bad would it be to do about 20 square feet of drywall plus texturing to make it match? The other options would be to find a guy to do it, or file an insurance claim for the water and pay the deductible. I've read online that you don't want to make water insurance claims if you can avoid it, because you'll have to disclose the water damage when selling the house.

Replacing the drywall is easy. Matching the texture can be tricky.

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Replacing the drywall is easy. Matching the texture can be tricky.

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That's what I'm most worried about, but it is in a closet.

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Replacing the drywall is easy. Matching the texture can be tricky.

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This. If you're going to pay some one to match the texture, you might as well go ahead and have them do the whole job. You're already going to overpay because it is such a small area. If it's in a closet, that's a pretty good spot to try your hand at the work.

Totally agree. If it's a noticable area, just pay someone to do the whole thing. I've had guys fix spots in the ceiling and I can't tell.

If it's not noticable, try it yourself. Just need drywall, tape, mud, then a way to texture.

it wouldn't cost that much to get it done probably. had to get my ceiling fixed where, uh....a guy I know...stepped through one time. it was like $200 out the door

for the texture... once its patched and ready for paint, mix some mud in the paint and use a thick knap roller. looks way better than the spray can texture...

find a piece of scrap sheetrock from HD or Lowes (sometimes pay $1 or they just let you have it and practice the texture a few times in a few spots...follow the instructions on the spray can and then the art form is how far away and how quickly to move the can around as you spray it on the wall...second challenge is knowing when to knockdown the texture (if this is the texture you have). It takes a few practice runs, but once you get it it is a cheap and easy DIY.

I've probably saved $500-$1000 doing my own patching and repairs.

Do not, under any circumstance, claim water damage unless it is catastrophic. The kid spilled water on her laptop, so we claimed it under an electronic device rider. It showed up as water damage when we sold the house, and was a major pita to clarify that the house didn't flood.

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Replacing the drywall is easy. Matching the texture can be tricky.

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That's what I'm most worried about, but it is in a closet.

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Learn by doing. It's a good skill to know. You cant have a better first opportunity than a closet patch job.

They sell aerosol spray cans of texture which get pretty close. Slap some paint over it and you really have to look to find the spot.

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Do not, under any circumstance, claim water damage unless it is catastrophic. The kid spilled water on her laptop, so we claimed it under an electronic device rider. It showed up as water damage when we sold the house, and was a major pita to clarify that the house didn't flood.

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that weird my first home had a water insurance claim and it never came up when selling.

Washing machine leaked and had to replace lots of flooring and walls that were ripped up trying to find leak.

Also, insurance didn't pay for replacing damaged areas, only the plumber's costs to find the leak.
My plumber was my friend, so I was able to do a deal with him, but otherwise we would of had no money for repairs.

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major pita to clarify that the house didn't flood.

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Not sure why, as water damage and flooding is a little like death and black plague; BP causes death but so does a LOT of other things.

Thanks for the confidence everyone. I did it this past weekend, and it looks pretty good. The new texture is a little thicker than the pro, but not too bad.
A tip I picked up from my Father in Law was to cut your patch a little bigger than you need. Put the patch up against the hole, and cut the old drywall around the patch. Fit like a glove.
A little into texturing I realized how silly it all is. Why do we texture walls at all? To look like masonry or stucco? Why doesn't drywall come pre textured?

You texture to hide crappy tape/float and patch jobs. You're not required to texture a wall or ceiling, but you better have skilled guys doing your taping and floating, otherwise every joint is going to be visible as you look down a wall.

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You texture to hide crappy tape/float and patch jobs. You're not required to texture a wall or ceiling, but you better have skilled guys doing your taping and floating, otherwise every joint is going to be visible as you look down a wall.

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This. You'd still have to texture seams even with pretextured drywall, and at that point you'd be trying to match instead of putting on a uniform coat during initial construction.