How to Hang Anything on Anything (2025)

Hanging pictures, shelves, and other items on walls can seem like a daunting task. With so many types of wall anchors and fasteners available, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when walking down the hardware aisle. But fear not.

This guide will help you navigate the world of wall anchors and picture hangers and securely attach items to any wall surface in your home.

Understanding Wall Materials

Before choosing a wall anchor or fastener, you need to figure out what type of wall material you have. Different surfaces need specific approaches to get secure attachment and minimal damage. Here’s a breakdown of common wall materials and their characteristics:

Drywall

Drywall is the most common wall material in modern homes. It’s relatively easy to work with but has limited holding power on its own. Standard picture or wire hangers work well for lightweight objects (under 20 pounds) and cause minimal wall damage.

Medium-weight items (20–40 pounds) may require plastic or threaded anchors. Heavy objects (over 40 pounds) need fasteners that distribute weight behind the wall, such as toggle or molly bolts.

Best Practices for Hanging on Drywall

To ensure a secure and damage-free installation of drywall, always use a stud finder to locate studs for the most robust support. To maintain wall integrity, avoid placing fasteners too close to each other. For very heavy items, consider distributing the weight across multiple fasteners.

Plaster

While plaster walls may resemble drywall, they’re much harder and prone to cracking. When working with plaster, always pre-drill holes to avoid cracking and fasteners that apply pressure to the sides of the hole. For lightweight objects (under 5 pounds), you can use drill-free adhesive hangers.

Wood

Solid wood and plywood walls offer excellent holding power if the material is thick enough. For thinner walls like plywood paneling, use robust fasteners such as toggle bolts, molly bolts, or plastic anchors that spread out behind the wall. While nails work well in wood, screws provide greater holding power and are easier to remove. Always drill pilot holes when nailing or screwing into wood to prevent splitting.

Key Tips for Wood

When working with wood walls, use screws over nails for a more secure hold. Use a drill bit to create guide holes before inserting screws or nails. Make sure your screws or nails are long enough to penetrate the wood fully without protruding through the other side.

Masonry and Concrete

These hard materials require a more nuanced and heavy-duty approach. For example, you need to use plastic anchors or hardened masonry nails. Drill holes with carbide-tipped masonry drill bits (a hammer drill makes this easier).

Start with a smaller pilot hole, then switch to a larger bit to finish. When working with brick, drilling into mortar joints is easier, but the brick itself offers greater holding power if it doesn’t break.

Masonry Mastery

For successful installation in masonry or concrete, make sure your anchors are rated for the material’s density. Take your time to clean out the drilled holes before inserting anchors or fasteners. Use consistent pressure and speed when drilling into masonry to avoid cracks and splits.

Wall Anchors and Fasteners

Choosing the right wall anchor or fastener is crucial for securely hanging items. Here’s an overview of standard options.

Toggle Bolts

These robust fasteners come in a variety of lengths and bolt diameters, depending on the weight they are intended to support and the thickness of the wall they are used on.

While our tests showed toggle bolts could support over 300 pounds in drywall, they require an oversized hole to accommodate the spring-loaded fastener. This quirk prevents the bolt from fitting tightly in the hole and leaves a large hole when the fastener is removed.

Threaded Toggle Fasteners

These self-drilling fasteners are an improvement over standard toggle bolts since the fastener shaft fits tightly in the drill hole. Threaded toggles are easy to install, though they can be a bit tricky to remove, and safely supported over 200 pounds in drywall in our tests.

On the downside, they leave a nice-sized hole in the wall (though not as large as standard toggle bolts) and are expensive. To increase holding power and aid in removal, install them with the long arm of the toggle pointing up.

Molly Bolts

You can insert these common fasteners in a hole you drill in the wall or hammer them directly into drywall without drilling. Molly bolts achieve their holding power by tightening up the bolt, which causes the casing to expand behind the wall.

While supporting over 100 pounds in our tests, molly bolts tend to spin in drywall when tightened and are extremely difficult to remove once installed. Like toggles, they come in various lengths depending on the wall thickness.

Threaded Wall Anchors

These new fasteners on the scene excel in drywall applications, with their deep threads providing increased holding power. They’re available in either brass or nylon, with a picture hook or center screw included with them.

You screw threaded anchors directly into drywall—they can hold up to 80 pounds in drywall in our tests. While they provide good holding power and are easy to install and remove, threaded anchors leave a large hole in the wall behind.

Plastic Wall Anchors

While working well in dense materials—like masonry, concrete, brick, or concrete block—plastic anchors don’t provide as much holding power in softer surfaces like drywall as other types of wall anchors.

If you use them on drywall, choose a ridged plastic anchor that flares out behind the wall. Once you hammer the anchor into a pre-drilled hole in the wall, you put a screw into the center that expands to press against the sides of the hole.

Picture Hangers

Standard metal picture hangers have been around for years. They feature an angled nail that fits in the hook to increase their holding power. Picture hangers are inexpensive and available in a wide range of sizes.

In our tests, they supported between 40 and 60 pounds in drywall. While they don’t hold as much weight as other fasteners, picture hangers are simple to install and easy to remove, with little lasting damage to the wall.

Wire Hangers

Sold under brand names like Monkey Hook, these lightweight fasteners consist of curved steel wire that can be installed in seconds without tools. While some brands claim to hold as much as 150 pounds, they supported less than 50 pounds in drywall in our tests.

Since most pictures weigh considerably less than that, wire hangers work well for light items. They are easy to remove and leave little a small pinhole behind but only work on hollow walls without obstructions. The PowerHook is a more robust hanger that works on the same principle but can hold up to 120 pounds, though it leaves a larger hole.

Adhesive Strips

You can use adhesive hangers and hooks, such as 3M Command Strips, to attach lightweight items without making a hole in the wall. Adhesive strips will adhere to most smooth surfaces, but they aren’t suited for bricks and other porous materials. Generally, they are rated for items weighing 5 pounds or less.

Choosing the Right Fastener for Your Project

Selecting the appropriate fastener depends on several factors:

Wall material
Weight of the item being hung
Desired level of permanence
Ease of installation and removal

Picture hangers or adhesive strips may suffice to hang lightweight items on drywall. Medium-weight objects might require plastic anchors or threaded toggles. Heavy items on drywall or other hollow walls typically need toggle or molly bolts for secure attachment.

When working with masonry or concrete, plastic anchors or masonry screws are usually the best choice. For wood surfaces, screws provide excellent holding power and allow for easy removal if needed.