How do I hang things on new drywall??
Question:We had our house gutted and everything redone, including new sheetrock on all the walls. I would like to know what is the PROPER way to hang pictures on the wall without messing up and making a bunch of holes. Do I have to use sinkers?? Please help, All of my walls are bare and I just want to hang pictures on my walls without having to patch up all the holes I made by mistake.
Answers:
There are plastic drywall anchors you can buy in packs at your local home goods store, if the pictures are heavy. If they aren't heavy, you can use brackets that are made for hanging pictures (they are attached by a nail that goes in at a 45 degree angle to the bracket). So the bracket will make a smaller hole, but can't hold as much weight, while the plastic anchors will hold more weight, but the hole is bigger.
Use picture hangers. Basically, they are small hooks attached to the wall by a nail. They work better than just nails because the weight of the picture hangs on the hook. They make different sizes for different size pictures. These are available at any hardware/home improvement store or Walmart.
Make sure if you hang anything heavy to put the hanger in a stud in the wall, not the sheetrock.
If you already have pictures that you want to hang, use paper or newspaper cut to the size of each picture and tape it on the wall to see if the placement works for you. Pictures should be eye level, which means you should be able to see your face in the middle of the picture. I would vary from this only if hanging a series of pictures and I was staggering them. You would also need to vary this if you have varying heights in your household. A 5'4" person and a 6' person - you would have to hang the picture somewhere in between each person's eye level.
Custom framed pictures usually have hanging wire on the back, and if it is a heavy picture you should have hanging wire put on it. They make hooks (you can get a packaged set) for various weights to use with these types of pictures.
If I am just hanging something small-medium or light-weight, I just use a common nail. If you put tape over the area where you will be putting the nail, it helps to not mess up the wall as far as cracking paint.
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