If you own a home, or rent a home and want to make sure you can get your security deposit back, at some point there will come a time when you need to make repairs and/or alterations to drywall. In my case, the previous owners had a habit of adding telephone and cable TV connections all over the place and not removing the ones they were no longer using.
They also normally got so much paint on them you can track the history of the previous room colors. The first step is to remove the outlet cover, and if necessary remove the wiring that is connected to it. In this case, and with several of the outlets I removed, the wires were cutoff and just hanging behind the wall. Including a 15 foot piece of coax cable I found behind the last cover I took off. Make sure if there is a lot of paint around the edges you score around the outlet with a utility knife so you do not rip the drywall paper.
If the jack/outlet was installed correctly there will be some kind of box or mounting bracket behind the faceplate, you will need to remove that hardware before you can patch it. If it's just a wire pulled through a small hole the wall it is a simple repair with just a little Spackle.
If it's a simple cover bracket then it is simple and easy to remove. If it is a outlet box mounted to a stud behind the drywall there is more work to it, and may require you to cut the hole a little larger. Also if it's irregular shaped hole you may also want to trim away a little more drywall to make it easier to fit a patch for it.
Once you have the hole ready then prep the items you will need to complete the repair. In my case the opening is 2 1/4" x 3 1/2" so I only need what you see above: 4 drywall screws, a 1 1/2" x 1/2" x 9" wood slat section, and a piece of 1/2" drywall cut roughly to the size of the opening. Always cut the patch a little larger so you can shape it down to fit correctly. Normally I make sure the wood slat is 6" longer than the largest dimension of the opening. You will see why further on.
Since you will need to mount the slat behind the opening it is easier to start the first screw on the wall before you try to position the slat behind it. Usually I try and place the screw 1 1/2" above the opening. Which is why I make the slat 6" longer so I can have 3" above it, and 3" below it. Be careful not to drop the slat or you will be taking a break to cut another one.
Positioning the slat behind the wall is not easy the first time you try, but it can be done with one person and an electric drill. Once you get the first screw in place it is a lot easier. Make sure you drill the screw in below the surface of the drywall.
Once you have the second screw in place you have a solid foundation to mount the drywall patch to. For larger openings you may need more than one slats to mount the patch on. At this point you should dry fit the patch and trim it to fit. You should always do that after the slats are in place so you do not drop the patch behind the wall.
Once you have the patch correctly sized you can secure it to the plats using one or two screws per slat. As with before make sure you drive the screws till they are below the surface. At this point you can continue a couple of ways. For a larger patch you should apply some drywall tape over the seams and cover the tape and the patch area with drywall joint compound. You can do that with smaller patches too, but you do not have to.
I opted to just Spackle the surface instead of using tape since it is a small enough repair. I use a nice and heavy latex Spackle. It fills the cracks and openings well and sands nicely and holds paint extremely well. Instead of one thick coat that will probably sag as it dries, I suggest 2 - 4 thin coats with a little drying time between eash one. I suggest over Spackling the area so you can sand it smooth before you paint/prime the area. If you do it correctly when all is said and done you will not be able to even tell there was a hole there to begin with.
