A Recommended Upgrade For Hanging Works of Art

2 common types of anchors for hanging a painting:

Eye Screws and D-Rings.

At a 4th of July party, after consuming a wonderful dinner, all the guests were stretching their legs in the back yard when suddenly, from inside the house, there came a loud crashing boom. Everyone rushed inside and discover that the large gilt framed mirror hanging over the buffet had fallen from the wall, smashed into the buffet, crushing the cut crystal decanters, and then fell forwards to land on top of the dinning room table were the glass mirror exploded, scattering shards of glass from one end of the dinning room to the other.

WHAT HAPPENED- The method for hanging the mirror on the wall failed. In this case, the eye screws simply worked themselves free from the gilt wood frame.

Eye screws used in conjunction with a wire stretched between the 2 screws, is the most common/traditional method for hanging works of art such as paintings and mirrors. This method is in fact a combination of weak links, who's failure is one of the most common causes of damage to paintings and mirrors.

WHAT'S WRONG- First and foremost, using Eye Screws.

WHY- Eye Screws are single points of contact screwed into each side of the wood frame. Any single point of contact is a weak point. The eye screw is also usually screwed straight into the frame, so that when the wire is attached and the painting is hung on the wall there are 2 points of stress created in the wood around each of the eye screws. These stress points, combined with the natural shrinking and expansion of the wood, WILL cause the eye screws to work themselves out of the wood over time.

WHAT'S RIGHT- Dump the eye screws! Through them away! Never use them again! Tell all your friends! Use D Rings instead, preferably D Rings with 2 screw holes each, as shown in the photo above.

WHAT ELSE IS WRONG- The wire is typically a single strand that is tied to each of the eye screws.

WHY- All the wight of the work of art is resting on the structural stability of a single wire. Should this one wire break all is lost.

WHAT'S RIGHT- The wire should be a braided wire so the wight is dispersed across several wires at the same time. The wire should be twice the distance of the eye screws so that it can be folded in half and then tied to the eye screws, doubling the strength of the wire.

WHAT ELSE IS WRONG- Works of art are typically hung from a wire that has only one point of contact/anchor in the wall.

WHY- For any work of art that weighs over 5 lbs, there should be 2 points of contact with the wall. This spreads the pressure/weight of the painting across 2 points.

WHAT'S RIGHT- Use 2 anchors in the wall, and use a wall mounted picture hook instead of just a plain old nail stuck into the drywall. If the work of art weighs over 10 lbs DO NOT use wire. Instead hang the work of art directly from the D Rings onto the wall mounted picture hooks.

HOW TO USE D RINGS- Follow the WHAT'S RIGHT directions above.

*Pre-drill a small pilot hole for each of the screws. This will prevent the wood from splitting. Make sure you do not drill all the way though the frame.

*If you are using a wire, slant the D Rings towards the top, center of the frame. This will lessen the stress points in the wood caused by the wire.

*Lastly, Use wall mounted picture hooks that are appropriate for the size and weight of your work of art.