How do I hang a lamp without drilling??
Question:I want to hang a lamp (a rice paper one, very light) from my ceiling but I cannot drill in my ceiling (it is solid concrete! I live in an old building) Does anyone have suggestions or know where I can find hooks that will stick to the ceiling and stay there? I have 3M things for on the wall that just stick to it (some are like velcro) but I cannot find hooks. Any suggestion is appreciated!!
Answers:
3M does make hooks... i found them in grocer. but u can try office supply stores. Walmart, Target, kmart.. etc.. ck online. Not always do they carry everything in the store online & visa versa. Concrete...hmmmm. ck. w/ u'r local hardware store. & explain to them what u want 2 do. They may b able to direct u 2 something.
You actually came up with the solution in your question, buy a couple of strips of Velcro. Glue one to the ceiling and attach the light weight light.
They make drill bits for concrete, and nails too for that matter. A hardware store should have many options for you to choose from. You can buy tapcons or wall dogs as some people call them, and they will drill right into concrete.
OK think "no drilling"! Upon brainstorming the first suggestion is cable TV plastic anchors. These have small nails attatched to them.The problem is they are for only to hold down the cable on one side. They may work for you just the same.
Next, try some hooks and large eyes these are round on one end and screw in on the other. You can bend one out to accommodate the plug end or just use the half curved ones. or a combination of all three.
They can be found at most hardware stores or sections and the cable TV ties at Radio Shack or where cable TV supplies are sold!
This is funny. I am doing the exact same thing in my apartment. Making holes in the walls or ceiling shouldn't be a problem as long as you repair the wall before you leave and leave it as you found it. Most apartment management don't mind if you put some holes in the walls as long as you don't leave and there are obvious holes in the walls and ceilings. Just patch the holes and paint them to match and you're good to go. It sounds like the walls in your building might be old stucco that crumbles when you make any kind of hole in it. I don't know what kind of drill you are using but there are drill bits made especially for stucco and concrete. They are specially designed so they don't tear up the material you are drilling as much. Use the very smallest drill bit you can to make the smallest hole possible. Then you will have to use wall anchors which are made especially for screwing mounts directly into a wall without being anchored to any kind of support beam or stud. You want the hole to be smaller than the anchor so that when you hammer the anchor into the wall it has a tight fit. The anchors are semi-rigid plastic or metal tubes or sleeves that you hammer into the drill hole you have made. You can get them at any hardware store or Walmart/KMart/Target. You will then insert any screws you need for mounting into the wall anchors, in this case your hooks. The wall anchors hold the screws tight and keep them from eroding the stucco or concrete. It's kind of a lot of work but the results are worth it. You don't want to have to worry about your lamp falling. Even though rice paper lamps are light they are still subject to the law of gravity. If you don't want to go to all that trouble you can find the hooks you need at any hardware store (Home Depot?Lowe's) Good luck.
More Related Questions & Answers...