Hanging Art on Brick, Concrete and Plaster

Most advice about hanging pictures assumes drywall: tap in a nail and you are done. Plenty of homes have other walls. Loft flats have exposed brick. Basements and modern blocks have concrete. Older houses have plaster that crumbles when you look at it. Each needs a different method.

This guide covers all three, with options for people who can't or won't drill.

Work out what you have

• Exposed brick: you can see it.
• Painted or plastered masonry: knock on it. It sounds solid and dead, and a drawing pin won't go in.
• Concrete: smooth, hard and grey under the paint. Very solid.
• Plaster on lath (older houses): fairly solid to knock on, with hollow patches. A pin goes in with difficulty and the surface may crumble.
• Drywall: hollow, and a pin goes in easily. See hanging a large canvas.

Brick

Without drilling

• Brick clips. Spring steel clips that grip the top and bottom edges of a single brick. They need no tools and leave no mark. They work only where the mortar is set back from the face of the brick, so that the clip has an edge to hold. Measure the height of your bricks and buy the matching size. Each clip holds a modest weight, enough for a canvas or a framed print.
• Hooks from above. If there is a picture rail, a beam or a ledge, hang the art on wires or cords from that.
• Lean it. A canvas on a shelf, a sideboard or the floor against a brick wall looks very good.

Adhesive strips and hooks don't hold well on brick. The surface is rough and dusty.

With drilling

You need a hammer drill, a masonry bit, wall plugs and screws.

• Brick or mortar? Drilling into the brick gives the strongest fixing. Drilling into the mortar joint is easier and is simpler to fill later, and it is weaker, particularly if the mortar is old and sandy. For light art, mortar is usually enough. For anything heavy, use the brick.
• Mark the depth on the bit with a piece of tape, a little longer than the plug.
• Drill straight and steady, and clear the dust from the hole.
• Push in the plug so that it sits flush, and drive the screw, leaving the head out by a quarter of an inch.

Old or soft brick can crack. Start with a small bit and go gently.

Concrete

Concrete is harder than brick, and it has no mortar joints to make things easier.

Without drilling

• Hardwall hangers. Small plastic hooks with several short hardened steel pins. You tap the pins into the surface with a hammer. They hold light and medium pictures on concrete and hard plaster and leave only pinholes.
• Adhesive strips and hooks on smooth, painted concrete. Clean the wall first. They suit light pieces. They don't suit rough, dusty or damp concrete.
• A picture rail or hanging system. A track fixed once along the top of the wall, with cords and hooks that slide. You drill once and can then hang and move art freely. It is worth it in a concrete flat.
• Leaning, as above.

With drilling

A hammer drill is essential, and a rotary hammer is better for more than a few holes. Use masonry bits, with plugs and screws or concrete screws that cut their own thread. If the drill stops dead, you have probably hit steel reinforcement. Move the hole a few inches.

In a block of flats, check the rules before you drill into structural concrete, and find out where cables and pipes run.

Plaster

Old plaster is hard and brittle. It was laid over thin strips of wood called lath, or straight onto brick. Hammering a nail into it sends cracks outward and can bring away a chunk.

• Don't hammer. Drill.
• Tape first. Put a cross of masking tape over the spot to stop the surface flaking.
• Drill a small pilot hole with a sharp bit at low speed.
• Use a screw, not a nail, long enough to reach the lath or the stud behind. For a hollow section, use a toggle.
• For light pictures, angled picture hooks with fine hardened pins do little damage. Tap them in gently through tape.
• Use the picture rail if the room has one. Many older houses have a wooden moulding near the ceiling made for this purpose. Hooks sit over it and the pictures hang on wires, with no holes in the plaster at all.

Adhesive strips are risky on old plaster. They can pull the paint, and a layer of plaster with it, when they come off.

If you rent

• Read the lease, or ask. Many landlords allow a few small holes and object to large ones.
• Brick clips, picture rails and leaning leave no trace.
• Hardwall hangers leave pinholes that fill with a dab of filler.
• Tapestries are the easiest art for a difficult wall. They weigh almost nothing, so light clips, hooks or a tension rod will hold them. See how to hang a tapestry without nails.

See ready-to-hang canvas that leaves the walls alone and how to hang posters without frames or wall damage.

Safety

• Wear eye protection when drilling masonry, and a dust mask. Masonry dust is harmful to breathe.
• Check for cables and pipes. They run up, down and across from sockets, switches and radiators.
• In old houses, paint may contain lead. Avoid making dust from old paint, and seek advice if you are unsure.
• Use fixings rated for at least twice the weight of the piece.

Which art suits which wall

• Exposed brick is warm and textured. Art with clean edges stands out against it: a canvas, or a print in a plain black frame. Neon and cyberpunk pieces look very good on brick, since brick is the wall of the city streets they show. See Cyberpunk Slick Street.
• Bare concrete is cool and grey. It suits bold colour, which warms it, or black and white, which goes with its industrial look. See black-and-white art and wall art for grey walls.
• Old plaster in a period house can take anything. Modern art in an old room is a pleasing contrast.

A canvas is a good choice for all three. It is light for its size, which makes every fixing method easier, and it has no glass to break if a clip gives way.

Quick guide

For height and spacing once the fixing is in, see how high to hang wall art. Browse the canvas art and tapestries collections.