Do you know how to hang pictures without drilling holes ? Do you want to put a mirror in the bathroom without breaking the tiles? In the last year, I have had to furnish my house and I have learned all the ways there are to hang without drilling . Maybe you’re renting, like me, and the landlord doesn’t want you to leave the house like Gruyère cheese. In any case, the alternatives that I am going to show you to hang things without holes are systems that are useful for many applications. Much easier and cleaner than the traditional drill, plug and screw system.
To choose the system that best suits what you want to hang, check the weight of the object and the support on which you want to hang it. There are some more suitable for hollow walls and others for solid walls.
1. Fischer picture frame: ideal for hanging pictures without nails on plasterboard
These hangers seem like a revolution in the task of hanging pictures without drilling. I have used them a lot at home this last year and I recommend them whenever the wall is made of laminated plaster (plasterboard). The picture frames are little hooks that are placed on the wall by means of two teeth that they have in their front part. A small hammer is enough to place them, or your fingers if you have enough strength. Each hook holds up to 8 kilos. Also, if two of these hooks are linked, they would hold up to 16 kilos (8 + 8. .
In my case, I have hung from a large painting (more than 1 meter per side) to a sun mirror, one of my latest acquisitions. To the painting, for example, I screwed a rope from side to side to the frame to be able to hook it to the frame holders.
Another very simple option for hanging objects on soft surfaces is the Fast & Fix. It is possibly the most basic format of all the hanging solutions we have tested in this review, but it is no less useful for that.
It is a very minimally invasive solution despite the fact that it looks like a nail. It is worth knowing! It consists of a kind of thumbtack that is nailed to the wall with the help of a plastic piece to hold it and a few taps with the hammer. The thumbtack drives into the surface – it’s important to note that it doesn’t work on hard surfaces like brick – leaving a small hanger sticking out . It is a novel solution and we found it very useful for hanging medium-sized objects such as pictures.
2. Hang without drilling: removable mounting adhesive for large objects
For those of you who do not know it, the mounting adhesive is used to fix two materials without the need to screw or nail. It is a very powerful adhesive that is used even for vertical joints and surfaces that are not smooth, since it has great filling power.
Being so powerful, mounting adhesive has traditionally been incompatible for removable joints, but this is changing. In recent years, mounting adhesive type products, also known as no more nails, that can be peeled off, have been appearing. Specifically, I’m going to recommend two: Montack removable fixing points and Montack detachable.
A few days ago we presented at Handfie the latest Ceys novelty, the Montack removable fixing points . It seems magical. Each point of adhesive with which the objects are joined becomes a kind of sticker that can hold 20 kilos. I recommend you watch the video in which Carmen, our handyman, proves it.
The removable Montack is a mounting adhesive like the traditional ones, but it can be removed with the help of a spatula. Carefully insert the spatula between the two objects in the glued area and make a slight lever movement until the adhesive yields. I have used it at home to fix a fairly heavy IKEA pantry on legs to the kitchen wall. At the moment, it has been over a year and has not moved.
In conclusion, these two Ceys brand adhesives maintain the properties that make them so useful: filling capacity, resistant to water and humidity, or very good adhesion and resistant gluing, among others. The novelty is that they incorporate the possibility of detaching the joined objects without damage.
3. Adhesive Hooks: How to Attach Lightweight Frames
If what you need is to hang not very heavy pictures and small decorative objects, a great option are hooks, nails and self-adhesive screws. They are ideal for hanging light objects. These are solutions that avoid having to use the tool case and, at the same time, leave no trace when removed.
The Tesa brand has a very complete range of products, depending on the support where we need to hang the object, be it painted or plaster walls, tiles, glass, or brick or stone.
Since there are so many, I am going to talk about the ones I know: adhesive nails and hooks.
As for the adhesive nails, they are a good system for hanging pictures without holes. I have hung with them a painting and a calendar. The first, on a painted wall in the living room; the second, on tile in the kitchen. There are precisely these two types: 1. for tiles and metal; and 2. for painted and plaster walls. You can choose between different types depending on the weight you need to hang. There are those that support from 0.5 kilos to 4 kilos. In any case, they are very easy to install. Inside they bring an elastic strip -the technology is called Powerstrip-, which is removed when you want to remove it and this means that it does not leave a mark.
As for adhesive hooks, there are also many types. From more typical hooks for hanging a cloth on kitchen tiles, to transparent hooks for hanging garlands on windows or mirrors, to waterproof hooks for hanging objects in the shower.
I have used them to hang rags in the kitchen, although I must admit that they came unstuck over time. I imagine that they will be less durable due to the fact that they are tapped due to the removal and application of the cloth.
4. Picture hanging strips without drilling, Velcro type
Of this type of strips, the ones I first met were ones from the 3M brand, called ‘Command’. There are ones for posters and for paintings, depending on the weight they support.
These straps work like Velcro on shoes. The system consists of two strips that adhere to each other and can be peeled off without any problem, with the characteristic crick sound. On the other side, they stick to the desired surface, be it the wall, the frame of the painting or the poster.
In theory, the manufacturers of these types of strips say that they are easy to remove and that they do not leave residue when removed. My experience is that they come off more or less easily, but they do leave residue. This shows that they are really effective and I have never dropped anything hanging with these types of strips, but it has chipped the wall when removing them when the wall is painted plaster. I really like them and they are super easy to use, but keep in mind that they can chip if the wall is soft.
Among those of the 3M brand, there are those that support different weights. The lightest ones are special for posters and there are some that can hold paintings weighing up to 7.2 kilos.
In conclusion, these strips seem to me the best idea to hang photos on the wall.
Pack of 8 strips for paintings, weighing up to 7.2 kilos:
