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Hello and thanks to whomever answers my questions.

I have undertaken a task of increasing the opening of an archway. I need an extra 1/2 inch in order to receive a new refrigerator. I removed a 4" piece of 3/4" drywall (about 5 feet up) and about 1" around the corners of this 4" wide archway.

Q1. To fill in the sides around the corners, do you recommend just using mud with corner tape or should I screw in a 1" x 60" replacement piece of sheetrock?

Q2. OR, should I take away another inch so that my replacement piece is 2" wide and more stable?

Q3. For the 4" face of the archway, I am planning in priming the wood stud and then using compound to shape it. OR, do you recommend using 1/4 sheetrock for the face?

Thank You.

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    A photo of the project could really help clarify the alternatives you're proposing. In any case, we can generally say that large areas and/or thick build-up of joint compound are usually not the preferred solutions. It tends to crack more easily than wallboard does.
    – Greg Hill
    Commented Jul 31, 2019 at 20:22
  • Can you remove the door from the refrigerator and put it back on once thru? Would that make it fit?
    – Willk
    Commented Jul 31, 2019 at 20:29
  • Yes, I can but I choose not to. Today's upscale refrigerators are complex with both wires and water tubing going through the door hinge area. I think new sheetrocking is less complex.
    – BigDDDD
    Commented Aug 3, 2019 at 4:12

2 Answers 2

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I've made the following decisions:

  1. Around the sides of the corner, I removed an extra inch of wallboard so that I can now affix a more sturdy 2" section.

  2. For the face of the archway (the section that walk through), I have purchased 1/4" drywall which opens the space as I need. Around this 1/4" section, I will use two plastic corner beads, one on each corner.

  3. My joint will indeed be at eyelevel as I don't want to mess with the actual curve of my archway. I am quite proficient at making joints disappear so I have no worries for that.

Thanks again for your input.

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  • Please take the tour to learn how to participate here. Gratitude is shown through votes and answer acceptance. If you like, accept your own answer to resolve the question. Abandoned posts are ugly. Thanks.
    – isherwood
    Commented Sep 2, 2019 at 14:17
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I think I'd get a sheet of 3/8" drywall. It's somewhat rare, but available. If your patches need to be 3/4" thick, this will do well and will leave you with a slightly larger arch opening than you started with.

Finish removing the old drywall or plaster to the height of the arch, first. You don't want to have to try and blend with something right at eye level.

Install a layer on the inside face of the opening. Install two layers to fill where your old drywall was around the corner. Now cover it with metal corner bead. If there's a joint in the drywall that isn't covered by the bead, tape that joint as you fill along the bead.

Plan view:

_________ < ---- metal corner bead
| _________________________
| _________________________ <------- one layer of 3/8" drywall
|| | |     /     /     / |
|| | |<------------------------ two layers of 3/8" drywall   
 |_|_|   /     /     /   |<---- wall stud
 |   |___________________|
 |   |
 |   |<------------------------ old drywall/plaster
 |   |
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