How can I hang artwork on a rented home's walls?

Question

Hi,

I am new to this part of America. I need to hang few pictures and few other very heavy paintings. I am in rented single family home. How should I go about doing this?

Answer 1

There are three ways:

1. Use adhesive tape designed for hanging pictures. This is the easiest method to install, and the easiest to remove when you move out, because all you have to do is stick tape to the wall. The downside is that the tape can only support several pounds, so it won't work for large pictures.

2. Use drywall anchors. These can be installed anywhere in your wall, but they can support only up to about 50 pounds of weight. That would be enough for most pictures.

3. Drive screws into studs on your wall and hang the frame from the screws. This method will support the most weight, but it requires you to find the studs inside your walls. Simply screwing into drywall but not into a stud will not work well.

Methods 2 and 3 would both leave small holes in your wall when you remove the drywall anchors or screws.

Answer 2

You might want to check your rental agreement for the details on what you are allowed to do with the walls. You might lose some or all of your deposit if you put holes in the walls. For a single-family home, I would expect that this wouldn't be a major issue but it really depends on the contract.

If you don't want to put any holes in the walls you want to look at products like 'Command Strips':

There are various sizes and options: Command Products Picture Hanging

If you think it's OK to put small holes in, I would go with plaster picture hangers like below. They come in various sizes such as ones that have two nails per hanger. The nails are very sharp and smooth so that when you (carefully) pull them out, they don't tear a big hole in the drywall/plaster. Good ones have a textured head that you can twist when you pull them to help avoid damage. If you are careful putting them in and taking them out, they leave a small pinhole that can be repaired easily.

If you have something really heavy like a mirror, you will need something more substantial (anchors, screws into studs) and it will be hard to avoid making a large hole in the wall.