Hanging coat hook with keyhole slot

Question

I purchased some coat hooks about a year ago and have only just around to installing them (decorating takes time haha). They are hung with keyhole slots on the back of them:

The problem I have is, I put a screw in the wall and hung the hook and got it attached fine. But if I put a heavy coat on the hook, and then lift the coat off, the coat can catch on the hook and lift the whole hook off the wall (such is the design of the keyhole slot).

Does anyone have any idea on how to prevent this from happening? I tried to put the screw in very close to the wall so it pulled on the metal plate as i pulled it down but it just bent the metal plate. I am currently using a countersunk screw, maybe there is a different screw head that would help with this situation?

Answer 1

I like @Eugene's suggestion of adding a screw between the ears to hold it down but if you don't like the look of that try using a larger screw as follows:

File away a little metal on both sides of the keyhole, where I drew the yellow circle. Do not file the area where the red lines are. Find a screw where the head is smaller than the large circle at the bottom, but larger than the filed away yellow circle, and where the shank is just a tiny bit larger than the narrow gap where the red lines are. You'll have to force the shank up through the narrow part by twisting the bracket and pushing down hard. Once you've done that, it should not come off just by removing a coat from it. The narrow part between the red lines will prevent it from slipping out.

Answer 2

With the way they are held to a wall, there is little to do to tighten or use another type of screw to keep the hook from rising.

The catch seems to embedded enough into the hook so there is a good flat surface against the wall.

Suggest to use double sided tape or silicone caulk or type of glue to hold the hook onto the wall with the screw to hold the weight.

Your problem seems like the coats catches the hook and raise it off of the screw, so glue or tape should hold the hook down enough to remove only the coat.

Answer 3

Maybe you are supposed to put a decorative hat on the decorative hook and never take it off :)

Otherwise you could try mounting it as normal and adding another screw or dowel into the wall right in that V notch. That should prevent vertical movement. Some decorative screw cover might be required depending on how visible it is.

Answer 4

Tighten the screw more before putting the hook on.

Also a blob of poster hanging putty at the bottom of the back of the hook could help.

Answer 5

You say you're using a "countersunk" screw. I'm not 100% certain, but I believe you mean something like this:

^{All image courtesy of lowes.com. Click all images to embiggen.}

This happens to be a drywall screw, but the key is the head shape which is usually referred to as a "bugle" head screw.

Try using a "pan head" screw instead, like this:

The flat inside of the head will allow you to get the screw tighter to the wall which should help hold the hook more snugly. You'll need to make several attempts at mounting the hook, taking it off, tightening the screw a 1/4 turn or so, remounting, and testing. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

You'll want to get the screw tightened to the wall as much as possible while still leaving just enough room to get the coat hook mounted. Any extra play will allow the hook to slide off, but when it's just tight enough, the friction of the flat head of the screw against the metal plate (plus whatever parts of the hook itself touching the wall) should be enough to resist the hook sliding up when you pull the coat off.