Large paintings and pieces of art are becoming more on trend but many people don’t know how to hang these large pieces, especially if they are also heavy. You may have received a painting from grandma that was large and you turned it over and saw that it was hung using two small eye hooks and a cable twisted wire. This style of hanger is sometimes still used in modern hangings but it can pose some problems. Often the wood and the eye hook will have problems over time and the hook will pull out or the wood will deteriorate around the hook. The wire is also subject to sagging, stretch and simply coming undone. These problems appear the most frequently in larger and heavier pieces.
To correct for these problems and to hang your art so that it appears flush against the wall, look for cleats. A cleat is a two piece hanging system where one piece attaches to the wall and the other piece attaches to the back of the art piece. The two pieces are combined to create the hanger. The largest style of cleat will run the width of the back of a painting. The downward facing cleat is mounted to the back of the painting using screws. The upward facing cleat is mounted to the wall and attached to the wall studs. To hang the painting the artwork is positioned above the wall mounted cleat and slid down the wall so that the two cleats interlock.
Cleats come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Before you select one weigh your art piece. Each cleat system is rated at a particular weight. When you select a cleat size it must be rated 20 percent more than the weight of your artwork. This gives you additional security and assurance that the cleat will not fail based on the weight of the artwork. One good way to weigh your artwork is to place a scale on the floor. Step up onto the scale to determine your weight. Then step on the scale while you are holding the artwork. Deduct your weight from the original weight measurement and you have the weight of the artwork.
Attach the cleat to the back of the frame using commercial adhesives and screws. This will add a layer of security to the installation. Because cleats are hard-mounted to the frame and the wall, it is easy to keep the artwork straight by using a level on the wall and mounting level on the frame. The cleat interlocks across the length of the cleat. A full width cleat will interlock across several feet for a very secure attachment.
Add clear bumpers to the bottom corners of the back of your artwork to buffer the art from the wall and to hold it as level and flush as possible. These bumpers will be invisible to the naked eye unless someone is looking for them.
