I recently moved into a new home with plaster walls. While I love the look and history associated with plaster, I have no idea what type of hardware to use for hanging art and pictures. Can you help? Monica, St. Louis
There’s no denying that plaster walls can be a challenging installation medium. “You could run into [a wall] that is rock-solid and will hold whatever you put into it, or you could run into [a wall] that as soon as you hit it wrong, will crumble,” says Aaron Dains, owner of St. Louis Art Installers.
According to Marianne Laury, one-half of the duo at JM Fine Art Services, an art installation business specializing in packing, transporting, and hanging artwork, “people are afraid of plaster walls because there are so many different textures to them.”
Their finicky nature can sometimes leave homeowners in doubt about what hardware to use when hanging art on the walls. “People feel like they need to go all-out with hardware, when that’s really not the case,” adds Laury.
Dains will often encounter homeowners who use the wrong type of nail–typically, he says, nailheads with an oversized diameter. “When it goes in, it tends to [mess] up the plaster,” he says. When it comes to choosing the right hardware, Dains and Laury recommend using hooks by OOK. “That’s our go-to for plaster walls because it’s simple and the nails are really small,” says Laury. “[They are] low impact on the plaster and don’t make a massive hole like a lot of other hardware.” Dains likes blue steel nails because they “give more grip to the wall,” he says. For heavy jobs, like a shelf with a big load of books, knick-knacks, and so forth, Laury suggests a combination of a toggler and a flat washer.
Ultimately, if the project seems too daunting, hiring a professional tends to eliminate the stress. “Something that takes us five minutes can take somebody else two hours,” says Laury. “There’s all this hardware out there and a lot of it can be intimidating.”
Eliana Jenkins contributed research and reporting for this story.
Check out the full article here: https://www.stlmag.com/design/ask-veronica-how-to-hang-art-on-plaster-walls/
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