The perfect mirror can bring your bathroom to life. For those with small bathrooms, they create the illusion of depth and space and can help make your bathroom feel bigger. They also make great focal points and can modernise your room. If you’re looking to add a new mirror to your bathroom, you might be asking yourself ‘how to hang a mirror?’
Hanging a mirror might seem like an easy task but it in fact can be tougher than expected. There’s many things to take into account when hanging your brand new mirror. How to hang a mirror with wire? A mirror without wire? What wall are you hanging it on? It can be confusing and doing it wrong can waste your time or worst case scenario – damage your wall or mirror.
Never fear, this article will detail everything you need to know about hanging a mirror in your bathroom!
Determining how heavy your mirror is
Finding out just how heavy your mirror is a crucial step before hanging it. Your mirror’s weight will essentially determine how you hang it on your wall. Mirrors that are more towards the heavy side will require more steadfast methods of hanging which prevents any chance of the mirror dropping and shattering.
So how do you find the weight of your mirror? The packaging of your mirror will usually have the exact weight printed on it. Otherwise you can use the classic method of weighing it with a scale.
Determining what type of wall you’re hanging it on
What wall do you plan on hanging your mirror on? Answering that question is important because you’ll need to use different anchors and mounting hardware based on your answer. Here’s four common walls that you may be hanging your mirror on.
Drywall
Drywall or plasterboard is one of the most common types of walls. It’s thinner and more brittle than other types and it might not be able to support a heavy mirror with just nails or wires.
Brick
When it comes to brick walls, it is generally not recommended to drill holes or hammer nails to hang your mirror. Instead, you’ll need to use a wall-attached hanging system.
Concrete
Concrete walls are common in bathrooms that are modern or industrial themed. Picture hanging systems are recommended when hanging a mirror on concrete.
Stone
If you’re deciding to hang a mirror on stone or masonry you can use a wall-attached hanging system or you can drill into it, place an anchor and then drill in your screws.
Anchors, hooks and adhesive tapes
Before you hang your mirror, you need to decide how you will hang them. Are you going to use hooks? Or perhaps with adhesive mirror tape? If you’ve figured out how heavy your mirror is and what type of wall you have, your choice of wall anchors is quite straightforward.
If you’re going to hang a heavy mirror, you’ll need heavy-duty anchors for your hooks or hangers to go into. This will prevent it from falling off the wall. For a mirror on drywall and other hollow walls, toggle bolts are a sturdy anchor that will keep your mirror firmly in place.
For non-hollow walls such as brick, wall-attached hangers are most suitable. The most popular forms of wall-attached hangers include adhesive hooks or hanging frames which are placed directly on to the wall.
Hanging your mirror
Now that you’ve weighed your mirror, determined the type of wall you’re hanging it on and have your appropriate anchors and hangers, all that’s left is to safely hang it! Here are three different methods for hanging.
How to hang a mirror with wire
The most classic form of hanging a mirror is with a wire. Just like you would a picture frame, place the mirror against the wall and mark the top edges. Use a level tool to ensure that your markings are level.
Next, take a small piece of wood and mark it’s center. Place it under the top of the mirror to hold it under wire until the wire is taut. Use a tape measure to measure the distance from the taut wire to the top of the mirror. Take that measurement to the mark you previously made on the wall and mark it.
Afterwards, take the piece of wood and align its center with the second mark you made. Ensure the piece of wood is level and then mark its upper corners. These marks are where you place your appropriate anchors and hooks. Remember to use ones that are appropriate for your wall type and mirror weight! Also, for heavier drywall mirrors, you should use a stud finder to find wall studs to drill your anchors into. Once installed, you can gently hang your mirror on to your hangers.
How to hang a mirror with d-rings but without wire
If you’re not planning to use a wire you can hang your mirror directly from it’s d-rings. To do so, measure the vertical distance between the top of the mirror to the top of the d-rings. Then measure the horizontal distance between the two d-rings.
Mark these measurements on the wall then use a level tool to ensure it’s level. Install your anchors and hangers then latch the d-rings over the hangers.
How to hang frameless mirrors
Frameless mirrors are super modern and look great in any bathroom. However, hanging them can be a scary preposition. In reality though, frameless mirrors are just like any other mirror and should be treated as such.
If your frameless mirror has d-rings, then simply follow the above instructions for d-ring hanging. If it doesn’t, you can opt to use a strong adhesive tape to hang your mirror. To do so, mark the preferred location of your mirror before applying adhesive per the manufacturer’s instructions. Them place the mirror over the adhesive and you’ll have an amazing, feature mirror for your bathroom!
Getting the hang of hanging mirrors
Hanging your mirror no longer needs to be a tedious or scary home improvement task! By following this guide, you’ll be able to hang your mirror with ease. Just remember to always weigh your mirror and find out the type of wall you’re hanging it on. Those two steps will make the job that much more easier.
Do you have questions that are beyond ‘how to hang a mirror’? Jump into our blog to find the answer to all your bathroom remodeling questions! And if you’re on the lookout for a shiny new mirror to hang in your bathroom, check out our range at MYHOMEWARE where you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for.
