filling holes from nails?

What should you use to fill or cover up holes left by nails in the wall? We are leaving a rented apartment, and I don't want them to consider the holes "damage." Is there a certain kind of paste or putty you can get from a hardware store (in the U.S.)?

I always used toothpaste in the college dorms.   

If your walls are a color other than white, keep your eye out for colored putty/filler.  It's not in every shade, but the last time I needed some, the hardware store I went to, had a pretty good range of neutral colors.

I bought some hole filler at the hardware store before leaving my last apartment in NY.  You should not have any problem.  The stuff I got came in a tube with a sponge applicator.

I always used toothpaste in the college dorms.  

I heard that before, but never tried it.

Cool, I had heard of the toothpaste too but wasn't sure if that would really work. I think I'll look in a hardware store.

You want spackle - otherwise known as putty.  Look at Home Depot - you can get stuff that goes on pink and dries white, which I've used, and it's dead easy to get right.  Make sure you have sandpaper to sand it smooth afterwards, and then you can paint over it.

Of course, if you don't really care what it looks like afterwards and just need to fill the holes until you can get out and get your deposit back    just use toothpaste!

I did the toothpaste thing when we lived in miliary housing 

Here we just bought a small pot of spackling.

I always used the spackle or putty and just smooshed it in with my finger and then wiped off the extra. 

what about if you got a great big hole because your darling dear husband tried ever so hard to be a handyman and hang some shelves but only suceeded in making a hole hte size of a  two 50 pence coins?! 

what about if you got a great big hole because your darling dear husband tried ever so hard to be a handyman and hang some shelves but only suceeded in making a hole hte size of a  two 50 pence coins?! 

HA HA HA....that calls for extra whitening toothpaste OR fix-a-dent   

Or bye-bye to at least part of your deposit!

I've used toothpaste and spackle before... depends on how much you like(d) the place...

Bigger holes are no problem, even if you don't have all the pro gear.

If it's a hollow-type hole, stuff newspapers in, then put papier-mache on the spot to hold everything in place.  Plaster/spackle over it when dry.  I usually put the papers in damp and gluey.

Non-hollow-type hole... you just don't need the newspapers.

With older houses (lathe and plaster/horsehair mixes, clay walls, etc.)  bonding can be a problem.  Make very fine papier-mache, use it as wet as possible.  Add PVA to the mix.

(Most white glues are PVA.)

I love fixing holes in walls....

I love fixing holes in walls....

I think that's the first time in my life I've ever heard/read that sentence! 

I guess it's a bit strange, but I've lived in loads of old, falling-apart houses.  I like seeing how they're put together... and I like solving little problems like 'how to keep the bathroom wall out of the tub'.

It's fun!

what about if you got a great big hole because your darling dear husband tried ever so hard to be a handyman and hang some shelves but only suceeded in making a hole hte size of a  two 50 pence coins?! 

My cat actually punched a huge hole in the bedroom wall of the place I lived before this - and when I say huge, I mean it - 8 inches in diameter!  He was being chased by my other cat and hit the wall HARD.  True story!  (It probably didn't hurt that the sheetrock had been badly water-damaged from the inside - it was structurally quite weak.) 

I wound up repairing it with a special wall-repair kit that I bought at Home Depot for less than $5 - sort of a sticky piece of plastic window screen, over which I spackled, sanded and painted...a bit of work, but I got my entire deposit back, so obviously it worked!

little problems like 'how to keep the bathroom wall out of the tub'.

 

Sounds like some of the places I have to install electrical fittings.  You only have to come within 3 ft. of the wall with a drill bit and it just says "O.K., I surrender" and falls around your feet in a pile of dust!

A general-purpose white caulking will do to fill small holes in most walls:

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/.......searchResults.jsp