[savanaly]

The seeming paradox reminds me of a simlar flavor one: the fact that if you accidentally knock a hole in your drywall, it's cheaper to cover it with a flat screen TV than to pay someone to fix the hole.

[ndriscoll]

Even cheaper to buy a small tub of putty and a putty knife if you don't have one.

[savanaly]

I was picturing more like a sledgehammer size hole.

[ndriscoll]

I suppose I don't know what kind of antics you get up to where that's an accident, but in any case you could maybe use those patch things, or you can probably buy a bit of new drywall, cut an even shape around the hole and use that as a template to cut your new drywall, insert it, and use putty to clean up the edges. Still only like $20-30 total.

[velcrohn]

Respectfully, have you ever actually repaired a hole bigger than a couple of cm, then sanded it and painted it to match the rest of the wall? Yes,the materials and tools cost less than a TV. What cost more than the TV are the materials, tools, and time needed to master the proper skills if you don’t already have them.

[arcastroe]

The hardest part _by far_ is texturing. I found matching the texture of the surrounding area near impossible during my DIY

[starlust2]

Fixing the hole is easy. Few more steps than you described, but still easy. Texturing less so.

[dardeaup]

That only works for really small holes.

[teaearlgraycold]

Not that hard to patch the drywall yourself though.

[drekipus]

Can't show ads on patched drywall

[drpixie]

That's a plus - patch drywall doesn't show annoying, crappy, unwanted ads at every opportunity.

[klooney]

Cost disease gone wild