Mounting a picture on a concrete wall

What should I use to hang up items on a concrete wall?

Are you hanging your pictures up on a concrete wall?
Below you will find some tips about what to think of so that you can hang your pictures up in the best possible way.

We sell lots of different hanging devices for concrete walls – traditional picture hooks, self-adhesive hooks and screws/ wall plugs. You should choose which option to go for based on how heavy the piece of wall art you want to hang is. We recommend you use screws and wall plugs for heavier pieces and self-adhesive hooks or picture hooks for lighter ones.

What should I think of before I hang my picture up?

It's best to make sure that you have everything you need before you begin. Measure the place where the picture is going to hang, and make a little mark with a pencil on the wall, so that you can easily see where you're going to put the fixings. The very best thing to do is use a spirit level, so that everything is straight and neat!

Hang pictures up with picture hooks on concrete walls

A picture hook is a plastic hook with pins which you hammer into the wall. Picture hooks come in several different sizes. Using a picture hook is convenient for hanging up lighter pictures, since you won't need to drill into the concrete wall, and the holes will be small. For hanging up picture hooks, all you need is a hammer.

We recommend that you are careful when you hammer in the pins, so that you don't hit the hook itself. If the hook is damaged there is a risk that the pins will come loose from the hook or the wall, and that the hook then loses its strength.

Do it like this:

• Measure where the hook is going to sit.
• Hammer the pins slightly beforehand, so that they come a little loose from the plastic in the picture hook, before you put them in the concrete wall.
• Hold the picture hook by the hook itself, up against the mark that you made in the wall when you did the measurement - the fixing on the back of the picture will then fit snugly on the hook.
• Hammer the hook into the concrete wall, but be careful that you don't catch the plastic with the hammer!
• Feel around the hook and make sure that it is sitting properly before you hang up your picture.
• If you are worried that one hook will be insufficient, it can be beneficial to use two picture hooks and share the picture's weight using both.

Another, perhaps even easier option for lighter paintings is something self-adhesive! One of the world's leading manufacturers of self-adhesive products, Tesa, has developed a super-smart self-adhesive hook that you can attach to virtually any kind of wall. The only thing we advise against attaching this self-adhesive hanging device to is vinyl wallpaper or adhesive surfaces (e.g. silicone or PTFE).

Tesa self-adhesive hooks can support a weight of up to 2 kilograms, meaning frames of up to 50x70 cm. Thanks to Tesa’s Powerstrips® technology, using the hooks is easy and provides stable and reliable hanging. When you order these hooks from us, we include instructions on how to use them, and it’s very important that you follow the instructions carefully to achieve the best grip.

The hanging device leaves no marks, which is something you’ll be grateful for on the day you decide to take down or move your wall art. What give the hooks their strong adhesion are flexible polymer chains, but when you want to take them down, you just pull on a small strip and the polymer chains are released, change shape and no longer adhere to the wall.

Hang pictures up with screws and plugs on concrete walls

If you have pictures that are a little heavier but which you want to hang on concrete walls, we recommend that you use screws and plugs. You will need to drill, and the holes will be bigger, but the picture will hang properly and there won't be a risk of it falling down. In order to hang up pictures with screws and plugs, you will need a drill.

Do it like this:

• Measure where the picture is going to sit.
• When you use screws and plugs for hanging a picture up on a concrete wall, you will need to drill a hole in the concrete beforehand, one which matches the plug's width and length.
• Make sure to drill so that almost the whole screw goes into the hole.
• Then, push in the plug. If necessary, use a hammer to get the plug all the way in.
• Then, put in the screw using either the drill or a screwdriver. The screw should sit almost all the way into the wall.
• When it is hung up, the picture should not sit loose, but instead, it should sit tight against the wall. If you use fixings with steel wire, wire or cables, you may need to cut them in order for the picture to hang closer to the wall.