Know your wall
Most American walls are half-inch drywall over wooden studs spaced 16 inches apart, center to center. An electronic stud finder is the easy way to locate them. Failing that, knock and listen for the hollow sound to turn dull, or start at a switch or an outlet, since the box is nailed to the side of a stud. Wiring runs vertically from those boxes, so do not drill directly above or below one. Older homes may have plaster, which needs a pilot hole before anything goes in, and brick or concrete needs a masonry bit and masonry anchors.
The fastener, by weight
- An angled picture hook, held by a thin nail, carries anywhere from 10 to 75 pounds depending on its size and leaves only a pinhole.
- A bare nail driven straight into drywall holds almost nothing and works loose.
- Ribbed plastic anchors are for light loads only, such as a small mirror or a towel hook.
- Threaded self-drilling anchors are rated for 25 to 50 pounds.
- Toggle bolts, whose wings open behind the wall, are the strongest option in hollow drywall and hold 50 pounds or more.
- A two-and-a-half-inch wood screw driven into a stud beats all of them.
Package ratings assume perfect conditions, so stay at half the printed figure or less. Adhesive strips suit renters and smooth painted walls, but they fail on textured surfaces and in humid bathrooms.
The picture math
Galleries hang work with its center 57 inches from the floor. Measure the height of the frame and halve it. Then pull the hanging wire taut and measure from its peak to the top of the frame. The hook goes at 57 inches, plus half the height, minus that drop. For a frame 24 inches tall with a 4-inch drop, the hook sits at 65 inches. Above a sofa, leave six to eight inches between the furniture and the bottom of the frame. Use two hooks on anything wide so that it stays level.
Shelves
A shelf acts as a lever, and weight at its front edge multiplies the pull on the top screws. Fasten brackets into studs wherever you can, and use toggle bolts where you cannot. Mark the first bracket, level across to mark the second, drill pilot holes slightly narrower than the screws, and load the heaviest things closest to the wall.
Tip Fold a sticky note into a small ledge and press it to the wall just below the drill bit, and it will catch nearly all the dust.
