Handyman Discovers Butterflies

I agreed to take the job that Friday morning, and if I was going to have it paint ready by Monday I needed to start right now. I started counting holes and making a list of materials I needed, then I went straight to the building supply. I had allowed myself an hour to get the materials and had arranged for my helper to meet me at the apartments. The way I knew to patch holes of this size was using backing boards and drywall tape and exact thickness of drywall to match the existing wall. I had made a list to repair the holes using this time consuming method. I know there are other methods now, but this was 1978 . I was standing in line to order my material behind an older guy, from the dried drywall mud on his clothes, I assumed he was in the drywall business, I was correct. To make a long story short, we stared talking and I told him the whole story of the hole repair. He said that I would not stand much of a chance getting the repairs completed by Monday using the repair methods I had in mind. He said he knew a way to patch holes of that size and larger without much measuring, no drywall tape, and I could use any thickness of drywall for the patch. That day I learned something that helped me finish the apartments on time and a drywall patching method I used and taught others for thirty years. He showed me how to make this patch and called it “the butterfly patch”. This was the easiest way I had ever seen to patch small and large holes. Over the years I have seen the same type of method used, but called a “hat patch”, but you know a butterfly patch by any other na,me is still a sweet way to patch drywall.

The Painters came in on Monday, Ernie paid me, and I went fishing.
You know what I always say “all is well that ends with fishing”.