Tips For Hanging Art On A Wall
Bare walls are rather boring, aren’t they? Having a nice piece of artwork can make the place come alive, but you might soon run out of space to hang your art!
It’s not always easy – or possible – to hang something on the wall. If you are a renter, you will need your landlord’s permission to drill into the walls. If your building is new, you might find that the brick is a little harder to drill into, compared to older builds whose bricks are softer with age.
Before You Hang…
Before you go about drilling into your walls, it’s a good first step to secure the correct equipment. It’s all well and good doing a spot of DIY, but if you can’t haphazardly hang your precious art. There’s more to it than hammering a nail into any random place. Consider the support beams, for instance. If you drill into one of those by accident, you risk damaging wires or, even worse, compromising the support structure of your house.
You must have the proper equipment in your tool box!
What You Will Need
- A corded or a cordless drill, plus an accompanying drill bit set, or a screw gun
- Hammer, screws, and screw anchors
- Step stool
- The artwork you intend to hang
- Tape measure
- Spirit (bubble) level and dry erase marker
- Stud finder
We advise a stud finder to locate studs, wire, and supports in your walls, so you don’t accidentally drill into them. When you find these, make sure you mark them with a dry-erase marker (ideally a different color to the one you are using for the main project) to remind yourself where these places are.
Suggested Steps
- Measure out and mark the site of the artwork you intend to hang.
- Once you have measured and marked your spots, drill into them and hammer in the expansion anchors. These are those little plastic things that secure screws into the wall. An improperly anchored screw can cause further damage or fall out altogether. Artwork included!
- After securing your anchors, drill in the screws. Make sure to leave the adequate room so that you can hang the artwork. About 1/8-1/4 inch will be enough.
- Hang your artwork, and make sure it is level. Use the bubble level to make sure that the artwork is not askew. This step is especially important for pieces of art that hang by a single wire! An uneven piece of art is not only an eyesore but will be more likely to fall and break.
Congratulations! You have successfully hung your artwork. Now go and enjoy a cup of coffee while you admire your handy work.
General Guidance On How To Hang Art On A Wall
Keep in mind that it is always a good idea to mark the location and use a drill with a bubble level to make sure that the drill is going in straight.
Another useful piece of advice is perhaps the most obvious: consider what material you are drilling or hammering. You will get more resistance from brick than you will from wood, for instance. Wood is typically less dense than brick, and planks are much thinner, so you are going to drill through it much more quickly than you will through masonry.
For this reason, set the drill to the most appropriate setting before commencing any work. A drill with hammer action will be more effective on brick than one without.
Always hold your drill level (some drills have built-in bubble levels). This tip will make the process much smoother, and you will run less risk of the screw and anchor falling out at a later date.
If the above seems unnerving or overwhelming, there are alternatives. Most hardware stores stock adhesive hooks, brick clamps, and a whole range of pieces that do not require drilling into the brickwork.
Source:
- Drilling and Fixing – Handyman Know-How
