• Images
• Videos
• Documents
• Books
• Articles

Comparison with joint compound

Spackling paste is comparable and contrastable with joint compound as both look similar and serve the similar purpose of filling in low spots in walls and ceilings.³ The chief differences are that spackling paste typically dries faster, shrinks less during drying, and is meant for smaller repairs, and not for a whole room or house. It is not uncommon for the general public to call any of these products "spackle", but tradespersons usually specify joint compound (drywall mud) when that is specifically meant.⁴

Spackle trademark

Spackle is an abandoned trademark of the Muralo Company, located in Bayonne, New Jersey.⁵⁶ Muralo's product is dry powder, to be mixed with water by the user to form putty or paste brought to market in 1927, then patented and trademarked in 1928.⁷ The term spackle has since become a genericized trademark applied in the United States to a variety of household hole-filling products.

The first written appearance of the generic use of the word spackle was around 1940.⁸ The product name was likely derived from the German word Spachtel, meaning "putty knife" or "filler." Other possible origins include Russian шпаклевать (tr. shpaklevat; to fill holes with putty or caulk), Polish szpachla (spatula or putty knife), and Yiddish spaklieven (to fill in small holes in plaster), all of which are likely derived from German.

Polyfilla

In the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and Canada, the brand "Polyfilla", multipurpose filler, is used as a generic term for spackling paste,⁹¹⁰ even though it differs from spackle in being cellulose based. The manufacturers claim that it has an advantage over spackle in that it does not shrink or crack.¹¹¹²

See also

• Caulking
• Home repair
• Joint compound
• Plastering
• Putty
  • Wood putty

External links

• Official Website

References

1. "How to Stencil With Spackling Paste". sfgate.com. 28 November 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2017. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/stencil-spackling-paste-92597.html ↩

2. "What is the difference between spackle and plaster?". Reference.com. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2017. https://www.reference.com/home-garden/difference-between-spackle-plaster-97e91c73a0b5d01 ↩

3. Ethan Daniel James (2021-11-20). "Spackle vs. Drywall Mud/Joint Compound (What's the Difference? When Should You Use Them?) YouTube video on The Honest Carpenter channel". Retrieved 2022-02-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAh2Re76e1A ↩

4. Ethan Daniel James (2021-11-20). "Spackle vs. Drywall Mud/Joint Compound (What's the Difference? When Should You Use Them?) YouTube video on The Honest Carpenter channel". Retrieved 2022-02-02. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAh2Re76e1A ↩

5. "SYNKOLOID'S - Trademark Details". Justia Trademarks. Retrieved 15 May 2025. https://trademarks.justia.com/720/17/synkoloid-72017131.html ↩

6. "Trademark Search: 'spackle'". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved 15 May 2025. https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76148822&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch ↩

7. Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office [microform]. Washington, D.C.: United States Patent Office. 1951 – via the Internet Archive. http://archive.org/details/officialgazette648unit ↩

8. "spackle". Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved 2015-11-21. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spackle ↩

9. Hitchcock, Karen (2013). Little white slips. [Sydney]: Picador Australia. p. 19. ISBN 9781742620299. Retrieved 24 January 2017. A nice Polyfilla kind of lady 9781742620299 ↩

10. Treasury Committee (2008). Counting the population: written evidence. London: TSO. p. 184. ISBN 9780215038036. sources patched up with statistical Polyfilla 9780215038036 ↩

11. Poly Website Australia http://www.poly.com.au/ ↩

12. Polycell UK http://www.polycell.co.uk/products/fillers.jsp ↩