How can I nail into brick?
Question:I want to hang art on a brick wall. Can I use nails or screws or what? Is there anything special I need to do? To I nail into the brick or into the cement between the bricks?
Answers:
I moved into an apartment last year that has brick walls. I love the look of brick, but it is a challenge to hang stuff on the walls. I'm not sure about putting nails in the brick. I don't know how to do it. But I did find these things called Brick Clips...(www.brickclips.com). They are hinges you put over the brick that allow you to hang pictures and stuff. Check them out. These may be easier. They are not that expensive. The only place I could find them is online though. I checked my local Home Depot and hardware stores and if they sold them at all it was only around xmas time so people can hang wreaths. You would be better off ordering them online
Buy concrete nails. They are extra hard, and will easily nail into the mortar between the bricks.
Try to nail them in place with as few hits as possible. Too many hits may cause them to loosen, and not hold strong.
They come in various lengths, and look like regular nails, only thicker, usually with grooves along the shaft of the nail.
they do have nails for this application they are concrete nails and you can find them at any home depot. they are square nails that are tapered down to one end. or if you have a drill you can get some "tap-cons" you are going to need to use the drill bit and drill a hole into the concrete first. then you can screw the tap-con into the hole and it should hold just fine. oh and with tapcons it dosent matter where you drill but with the nails you may get chipping of your concrete either on the brick or between.
Honestly i would suggest doing the tapcons its a litte more work at first but they hold much better and you can get them in different lengths
As others have said, masonry nails will work fine in the mortar between the brick. They come in two varieties, cut nails which are the square (actually flat, shaped like a T) and fluted masonry nails. For this type of thing, you will want a short nail, I would look for 3/4" (1" at the most) fluted. The shortest cut nails made are 1 1/2", much longer than you need. You will find that you do not want to drive these any farther than you have to and a short nail will hold fine. You do run a slight risk of cracking the mortar depending upon the type and condition of what is there.
Masonry screws (one brand is Tapcon) would be better, but you will need a drill and a special bit to drill a hole before you put the screw in. You can buy the bit when you buy the screw(s), and you can probably buy just one or two. It will make a bit of a mess to clean up with the vacuum cleaner, but less chance of cracking the mortar.
If this was my house, I would not consider either the nails or masonry screws. Either will leave a mess if you decide to get rid of them. Masonry nails are difficult to pull out and will likely take a chunk of the mortar (maybe even part of a brick) with them. Concrete screws go in much easier than they come out as well.
I would use a plastic anchor and a screw for this one. You will still have the mess of drilling a hole, but if you decide to remove it later you can unscrew the screw and dig the plastic out. You will be left with a perfect hole same size that you drill which can easily be patched with a touch of mortar.
to hang artwork i would find the smallest plastic anchor and drill a hole for it and use the approiate screw to fit the anchor...
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