need advice on hanging a large mirror

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HeysNotHere

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I found this forum through Google search engine. I'm trying to get advice on the best way to hang a large heavy mirror on a wall that is drywall.

Here is a photo of the mirror
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2471/diningroommirror.jpg

It measures 2 1/2 feet tall by 4 feet wide and is 1/4 inch thick glass. It is basically a huge sheet of mirror glass over top of a very simple frame. The frame is a rectangle made of 1/2 inch thick pieces of wood which are 2 1/2 inches wide and are formed into a rectangle shape so there is nothing whatsoever behind the glass, other than the wood around the very edges. I have no scale but guesstimate it weighs 40-50lbs. I've lifted it myself so I know it can't be heavier than that because I can't lift very heavy stuff.

A relative hung this on the all in our dining room for us some years ago. The frame of the mirror had some D rings attached to the sides in the back, a few inches down from the top. The wall where it hangs has studs spaced 16 inches apart and there appears to be three equally spaced on that wall. He didn't know best how to hang the mirror so he put one of it's hooks into the stud at the side of the doorway and he thought that the other was in one of the wall studs but it turned out that it wasn't.

The mirror was hung onto some type of hooks that appear to be made of aluminum or some silvery light weight metal and they have a twist to them. There is a hole at the top part and he hung them with nails and the D-rings on the back of the mirror frame just hooked onto the wall hooks.

We took the mirror down recently when that room was re-painted and we discovered that the hook on the left side was not into a wall stud and the hook had pulled down through the drywall over the years which caused the mirror to hang crookedly like in the photo. Luckily the hooks were designed for the nail to go in at an angle and I think that was the only thing that kept that side from pulling totally away from the wall.

We want to hang the mirror back up but don't know how we should do this because the mirror is exactly 37 3/4 inches wide with the D-rings attached at either side of the frame but the wall studs are spaced at 16 inches apart so there's no way to have the mirror attached to a stud at either side. We'd like the mirror centered on the wall but that would mean essentially that any hooks would be only attached to drywall.

Can someone give some advice about this? Is there some type of hook that is strong enough to support a heavy mirror if it's only attached to drywall or should I find a way to modify the frame in the rear so that I can move the D-rings to a different location? I thought about putting the D-rings along the top of the frame so that they can be spaced to attach to the studs 32 inches apart but I don't know if that is advisable. I worry that placing the rings at the top might cause the weight of the mirror to pull the frame apart.


edit: I saw these things http://monkeyhook.com but I'm kinda wary about "as seen on TV products".

Also there was this: http://www.hangmanproducts.com/pdf/hangman-framing-catalog-april-2008.pdf

Hangman hanger. However, it I don't know if that can be used if it only attaches to drywall and the largest one they have is 30 inches so it would only be attached to a stud on one side and I could only attach this hanger to the top of the frame also
 
There's a number of questions about your situation that probably could not be answered without inspecting the frame. The biggest question is whether the current frame is sufficient to bear the weight of the mirror. Since it appears that the frame has hung for a few years and is still intact, perhaps the current d-ring system is sufficient to hold the frame and mirror.

The first thought that comes to my mind is cut a piece of 1/4" plywood the size of the mirror. Screw that to the wall, then put 75lb picture hooks into the plywood. Hang the d-rings onto the picture hooks.

Another would be to attach 1/4" plywood to the back of the mirror frame. Cut a french cleat (rip a 1x6 down the middle at a 45 degree angle. Attach one cleat to the wall, the other to the back of the frame.

The monkey hooks have a pretty good reputation, I think. Someone else here who has more experience with them will probably jump in and tell you how well they would work.
 
Richard Darling said:
There's a number of questions about your situation that probably could not be answered without inspecting the frame. The biggest question is whether the current frame is sufficient to bear the weight of the mirror. Since it appears that the frame has hung for a few years and is still intact, perhaps the current d-ring system is sufficient to hold the frame and mirror.

The first thought that comes to my mind is cut a piece of 1/4" plywood the size of the mirror. Screw that to the wall, then put 75lb picture hooks into the plywood. Hang the d-rings onto the picture hooks.

Another would be to attach 1/4" plywood to the back of the mirror frame. Cut a french cleat (rip a 1x6 down the middle at a 45 degree angle. Attach one cleat to the wall, the other to the back of the frame.

The monkey hooks have a pretty good reputation, I think. Someone else here who has more experience with them will probably jump in and tell you how well they would work.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the advice :) That is a good idea to put the wood on the wall and then attach the mirror hooks to the wood. That solution might work, provided we could be sure that the wood was definitely secure to a wall stud. We seem to have trouble with trying to hit a stud when attaching stuff to the wall lol

In my previous post I forgot to put a photo of the hooks which the mirror was hung from on the wall:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9699/hooks.jpg
The frame is original to the mirror and seems very secure the way that it is assembled and the wood is hard wood (not soft like pine) I think the D-rings were original to the frame. They have a strip of metal attached to them and secure to the frame with two screws. The mirror glass is secure to the frame with some metal clips. I have seen this type of mirror before in various people's homes and they are pretty much all made the same way. I think they were made around the 1970's. Several other relatives have had the same kind.
 
Here is a photo of the back of the mirror:
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1582/mirrorback.jpg

the wood has residue of some brown paper or cardboard which seems to have been glued there as backing in the past.

The mirror is secure to the frame with metal clips that are screwed into the sides of the frame all the way around the frame.

Here is a close-up of one of the d-rings:
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/2072/dringcloseup.jpg
there is one on each side of the frame in the rear.

If we decide to try the method you mentioned and attach some wood to the wall, should we attach the hooks with nails again or should we use some slender wood screws instead?
 
Could you show us a photo of the back of the mirror? I'm trying to picture where the D rings are... and I don't know that I fully understand. Thanks!
 
Nevermind... I just looked at the other photo you posted of the back (duh). I think I would vote for the hangman. It might work well if you could run some of it on the bottom... so long as the hangman doesn't show under the bottom of the frame. It shouldn't, I think it is about 2" wide.
 
I use Z-bar on all my mirrors over 20lbs. If you don't want to cut it yourself they sell it in pre packaged lengths under the name Wall Buddy. Not exactly the same stuff but very close and secure to 100lbs.
 
Z-bar, french cleat, and the Hangman are all the same idea. You can pick which ever one is accessible to you. Suspending the frame from the top rail holds the most weight, as well as keeps the frame level and secure.

Re: Monkeyhooks and other bent-wire installations, my advice is to NOT use these, EVER. ESPECIALLY for anything that has any weight and/or value to it. I've had a client come into my store in tears with a shattered frame and damaged artwork because one of these hooks failed in her house. I don't know the details, but it doesn't sound good. Professional installers and riggers never use bent anything. Because the metal was bent into that shape, it can bend out of shape too, causing a failure. Instead, used forged or extruded systems for better reliability.

Thanks for checking us out, Heys! Good luck with your project.
 
You might also call your local picture framer and pay them to install the proper hardware and hang this mirror for you.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies! We have so many good options now :)

I don't think we'll go with those monkey hooks. I was just really wary about them and think they could bend out of shape and drop the mirror or somehow slide out of the wall anyway.

I hadn't thought of putting the hangman at both the top and bottom of the frame. I might try that if it wouldn't show out from the frame (the wood is only 2 1/2 inches wide to install them on) :D
 
Thanks again for everyone's replies and kindly suggestions :) We ended up deciding to use the Hangman ZBar to hang the mirror back on the wall and managed to locate three studs that were relatively centered on the wall where we wanted the mirror and used nails into the studs on the part which goes on the wall (the Hangman had holes every four inches along the whole length of it) and small wood screws to attach the other piece to the back of the frame. I also added some metal braces at the corners of the frame just for my piece of mind that hanging the mirror with the ZBar from the top part of the frame would not cause it to pull apart over time. It seems to have worked out :) I like that using the ZBar allows the mirror to be nearly flush with the wall as well. It looks nicer to me.

Here's a photo:
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/2471/diningroommirror.jpg
 
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