What type of wire and How to hang a heavy mirror?

[micky]

I know this post is 7 years old, but since it raises the subject of hanging mirrors, I'll tell a story.

When my mother and her husband moved to Pennsylvania, she hired a mirror company (are there such things?) to hang the mirror that was part of my bedroom furniture.

As they were working, she offered them the J-brackets that had been used in the first home where we had the mirror, and in the second.

The guy said, Oh we don't need those.

TWo hours after they left, the mirror fell off the wall.

Broke the glass and the frame. The jerky company replaced the mirror but never fixed one corner of the frame. The mitre had a gap of almost 1/4 inch. It was expensive furniture, solid ash. with two matching dressers, a desk, two single beds, and a night table. My mother was over 65 and didn't fight as hard as she would have when younger.

This guy's mirror was 32 x 48, no smaller than mine.. He shouldnt' be relying only on picture wire and eyelets.

[clare]

You need heavy duty picture hanging wire, OR a good drywall anchor or two You do not HAVE to fasten to studs (although it is stronger that way)

[micky]

Did you read my story about my mirror, hung by professionals, which fell down and broke the glass and the frame two hours after they left.

32x48" is going to be very heavy. It needs J-brackets underneath the mirror.

[krw]

I have a framed print that large. It's not all that heavy and easily supported by cables on wall anchors or screws into studs (have done both).

[Nate Nagel]

Depends on the mirror. A modern mirror is probably not *that* heavy at that size. An antique could easily be 1/4" thick or thicker and you do

*not* want that falling. If using wire I would use the heaviest wire I could find, and screw a hook into each of two adjacent studs.

Typically the wire is either directly screwed into the frame with screws and washers, or else eye screws.

nate

[micky]

If it isn't heavy that's fine. Some are, especially when they are not mirrors. Maybe your glass is thin, and there is only a cardboard backing because the silvering on a mirror doesn't have to be protected. I posted because I objected to unmitigated advice that it isn't necessary to fasten to studs, when many mirrors that size, especially quaity mirrors, are heavy. .

[clare]

Try a 72 inch X 30 inch on 3/4" baltic plywood. Fastened by 2 screws in the wall and "keyhole" brackets on the back of the mirror. Been there 20 years..

"professional" just means they get paid to do it - doesn't mean they are any good, or even smart.

[clare]

If the eye screws are in tension they can pull out Properly installed, they won't (screwed in on angle so pulling the wire forces the eyes in, instead of pulling them out - and with the open end of the loop either welded/soldered or at least opposite the wire))

[clare]

And what weight is a good drywall anchor rated for??? Some are well in excess of 250 lbs each - now that would be one heck of a mirror!!!!! Particularly with 2 anchors.

[dadiOH]

So they did a lousy job.

I guarantee that a mirror that size and much larger - even if 1/4 glass - can be hung without brackets at the bottom (or anywhere else). There are numerous ways to hang stuff.

[krw]

An antique mirror that size would be quite unusual. But, yes, they are much heavier. We have one about half that size (oval) that is quite heavy but wire and wall anchors still work quite well.

Directly into the frame? Our mirror has eye screws. The large print has anchor points built into the frame.

The wire on the print is rather interesting. It attaches to the bottom of the frame, about 1/3 the way across on each side. From there it goes over loops in the top spaced about half that distance to the edge, then strung through two more loops about 1/3 down from the top, on the sides across the back. The weight of the print is then carried by the bottom of the frame and the frame and matting is all held in compression. The framer did quite a nice job on it.

[Nate Nagel]

Some of them were made to size with beveled glass; I had one like that above the fireplace in my last house. It was obviously salvaged from somewhere else and cut down, as only two edges were beveled - I got rid of it and repainted that wall.

It was *quite* heavy.

nate