8 Tips on How to Hang Pictures & Art on Concrete Walls
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Pete Ortiz
- Last updated:
While most people think of concrete as a boring surface, the artist knows that it’s the perfect blank canvas to show things off and direct your attention to the right place. But before you can do that, you need to know how to hang things up on a concrete wall. And while concrete walls have a reputation for making this difficult, once you know how to do it, it’s easier than you might think.
If you’re trying to hang things up on your concrete wall, simply follow these tips and tricks and you’ll have your pictures and artwork up in no time.
The 8 Tips on How to Hang Pictures and Art on Concrete Walls
1. Look at What You’re Hanging Up
| Importance | High |
| Difficulty | Easy |
Before you head out and hang anything up, look at what you want to hang up in the first place. More specifically, look at how much it weighs. If it doesn’t weigh much, then you can go for an option like adhesive strips that won’t damage the concrete.
However, if you’re looking to hang up something heavier, you’ll need to opt for masonry anchors, which requires drilling holes in the wall. But knowing what you plan to hang up in the first place will go a long way in ensuring you’re only doing whatever work is necessary.
2. Measure, Measure, Measure
| Importance | High |
| Difficulty | Easy |
Whether you’re using adhesive strips or drilling holes, do yourself a favor and measure everything out before you start the installation process. While it’s more important before you drill holes, you also don’t want to go through extra adhesive strips because you didn’t line something up correctly the first time.
Measure everything out, mark the spots, and then start the installation process. It’s a little bit of extra work, but since you’ll do everything right the first time, it saves you from extra work in the long run.
3. Add Enough Support Holes
| Importance | High |
| Difficulty | Easy |
Even if you’re drilling holes into the concrete to hang something heavier up, you still need to ensure you’re drilling enough holes to support everything. Look specifically at the hardware you’re using and the weight limits for each piece.
From there, ensure they have a way to firmly grip the concrete so you can use them to their full extent. And when in doubt, simply add another support hole or two to stay on the safe side of things.
4. Use a Carbide Drill Bit
| Importance | High |
| Difficulty | Easy |
If you need to drill a hole in concrete don’t use a regular drill bit. You need a carbide drill bit to get through the concrete. While you can try using a regular drill bit, you’re only going to end up breaking it and dulling it out.
Not only will this make the job take longer, but you’re also going to end up ruining perfectly good tools by using them for the wrong job.
5. Take Your Time
| Importance | High |
| Difficulty | Moderate |
You just want to get the job done and hang up whatever it is you’re trying to hang up. But the more you try to rush through the job, the higher chance you’ll mess something up and need to do it again.
If you want to do the job right, you need to take your time. Taking the extra time to measure things out correctly, find the right tools, and get all the right parts for the job will ensure you only have to do the job once and get the highest-quality results.
6. Use a Level
| Importance | Moderate |
| Difficulty | Easy |
After you take your time and install everything, do yourself a favor and ensure you have everything level. You can take a step back and look at it, but a level will give you perfect results.
Ideally, you’ll want to use your level before you drill holes into the wall, but it’s not always as easy then. If you need to enlist the help of a partner to ensure everything is level, we highly recommend it.
7. Consider Adhesive Strips
| Importance | Low |
| Difficulty | Easy |
If you’re hanging up a lighter object (under 10 pounds) consider using adhesive strips instead of drilling anything into the wall. Adhesive strips are much easier to hang up, and they don’t cause any permanent damage.
However, if you’re looking for a permanent fixture or if you’re hanging something heavier up on the wall, adhesive strips won’t do the trick.
8. Masonry Nails Are Another Option
| Importance | Low |
| Difficulty | Moderate |
Between masonry anchors and adhesive strips are masonry nails. With masonry nails, you won’t need to drill any holes in the wall, but you will need to put in some muscle to hammer the nails in.
Masonry nails provide significantly more support than adhesive strips, but they’re not quite as sturdy as masonry anchors. But while they don’t offer quite the same level of support, they also put much smaller holes in your concrete walls.
In Conclusion
Don’t settle for a blank concrete wall any longer than you need to. With a bit of time and patience, you can hang up anything you want on a concrete wall and completely transform the look of the room in the process.
It might take a little work, but when you’re looking at a perfectly framed picture or piece of art on your wall, it’ll be worth all the effort.
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Featured Image Credit: Jonny Caspari, Unsplash
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