How to Hang Pictures on Concrete, Plasterboard, Brick and Plaster Walls

Find out what the wall is made of before you buy any fixings. Plasterboard sounds hollow and needs a picture hook or a hollow-wall anchor. Concrete and brick need a masonry drill bit and a wall plug. Old plaster needs a small pilot hole so it does not crack. Light frames without glass can skip the drill on sound, well-bonded paint with self-adhesive hangers.

Why the wall decides everything

In October 2026 we read 435 forum threads and 2,728 comments about photo gallery walls from the UK, the US, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. Questions about hooks, nails, drills and wall types were the most common topic: they came up in 39% of all threads. In the Netherlands it was 53%, in the UK 45% and in Germany 44%.

The same stories repeat in every language:

• Nails bend in hard concrete, for example in large-panel apartment blocks.
• The drill bit wanders on concrete or brick, and the hole ends up a few millimetres off.
• Old plaster crumbles around the nail, and the hook will not hold.
• People are unsure whether plasterboard needs a nail, a screw or an anchor.
• Re-measuring leaves the wall full of extra holes.

Plaster, wallpaper and plasterboard are the wall surfaces named most often in thread titles, followed by concrete and brick. Almost every one of these problems starts with not knowing what is behind the paint.

How to tell what your wall is made of

Use three quick tests. You only need a pin and, if you have one, a drill.

Test	Plasterboard (drywall)	Plaster on brick or block	Concrete	Brick (bare or painted)
Knock with a knuckle	Hollow, drum-like sound	Solid, dull sound	Solid, very hard	Solid
Push a pin in	Goes in easily	Goes in a little, then stops	Will not go in	Will not go in
Colour of drill dust	White, soft powder	White or grey, then red or grey	Fine grey, very hard to drill	Red or orange (sand-lime brick: white)
Typical home	New builds, partition walls, loft rooms	Older houses, most solid walls	Apartment blocks, large-panel buildings	Older houses, feature walls

Before you drill, check for cables and pipes with a detector. Do not drill directly above or below sockets and switches, because cables often run straight up or down from them.

How to hang pictures on plasterboard (drywall)

Plasterboard is a thin gypsum board on a frame of studs, with an air gap behind it.

• Light frames: use picture hooks with thin, angled nails. The angle helps the nail carry the weight down into the board.
• Heavier frames: use hollow-wall anchors, such as spring toggles or metal cavity fixings, that open up behind the board.
• Heaviest pieces: find a stud with a stud finder or a magnet (it finds the screws) and screw into the stud.
• Do not: put a plain screw into the board without an anchor. It pulls out over time.

Always check the load rating on the fixing packet and stay well under it.

How to hang pictures on concrete

Concrete is the hardest common wall, and the reason nails bend.

1. Use a hammer drill and a masonry bit of the size printed on the wall plug packet.
2. Stop the bit from wandering. Put a piece of masking tape over the mark, start slowly without hammer mode, then switch hammer mode on once the tip has bitten in.
3. Blow or vacuum the dust out of the hole.
4. Push in the wall plug and drive the screw.

If the drill stops dead on metal, you have probably hit reinforcement. Stop and move a few centimetres.

How to hang pictures on brick

• Drill into the brick, not the mortar joint. Mortar is softer, so a plug in a joint can work loose.
• Old, soft bricks: drill without hammer mode, so the brick does not crumble and the hole does not grow too large.
• Bare brick feature walls: self-adhesive hangers have too little contact on the rough surface. Use plugs and screws.

How to hang pictures on plaster

Plaster covers brick or block in most older homes. In some period houses it sits on wooden laths instead.

• Stop cracks. Put a piece of masking tape over the spot before you drill or nail.
• Pilot hole first. Drill a small hole, then widen it to the size the plug needs.
• Plaster on masonry: use the right plug for the brick or block behind the plaster.
• Lath and plaster: use picture hooks with angled nails for light frames. For heavier pieces, screw into a stud or joist behind the laths, or use a picture rail if the room has one.
• Crumbly or sandy plaster: drill until you reach the solid wall behind it, and use a longer plug.

Wallpaper and woodchip paper

Wallpaper is a surface, not a wall. Find out what is behind it with the tests above, then use the matching fixing. Do not use self-adhesive hangers on wallpaper or woodchip paper. The paper can lift as a sheet and come away with the frame.

When you can skip the drill

Framky frames are MDF without glass. The largest size, 50 x 70 cm, weighs up to 900 g. That makes them light enough for self-adhesive hangers on a sound wall. The kit includes the hangers and a 1:1 paper template.

Wall surface	Self-adhesive hangers	Otherwise
Painted plasterboard, paint well bonded	Yes	Picture hooks or hollow-wall anchors
Painted concrete, paint well bonded	Yes	Masonry bit and wall plugs
Smooth painted plaster, stable	Yes	Pilot hole and wall plugs
Bare or rough brick	No	Masonry bit and wall plugs
Wallpaper or woodchip paper	No	Fixing that matches the wall behind
Peeling, chalky or fresh paint	No	Wait for the paint to cure, or drill

Self-adhesive hangers do not damage the wall when the paint is firmly bonded to the plaster and the plaster is stable. If your wall fails a 24-hour test on a hidden patch, hang each frame on 2 nails in the inner corners instead (nails and screws are not included). The full no-drill method is in hanging photo frames without drilling.

Fewer holes for a whole gallery wall

Many re-measuring stories end with extra holes. Tape a 1:1 template to the wall, mark every hanging point through it, and only then drill or stick. Every Framky kit comes with one, so the layout is decided before the first hole.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know what my wall is made of? Knock on it, push a pin in, and look at the drill dust. A hollow sound and white powder mean plasterboard. A solid sound and red dust mean brick. A pin that will not go in and fine grey dust mean concrete.

Can I hammer a nail into a concrete wall? Usually not. Ordinary nails bend in concrete. Use a hammer drill, a masonry bit and a wall plug, or use self-adhesive hangers for light frames on sound paint.

Do I need wall plugs in plasterboard? For anything heavier than a small light frame, yes. Use hollow-wall anchors, or screw into a stud. Picture hooks with angled nails are fine for light frames.

Why does my drill bit slide on concrete? The surface is hard and the tip has nothing to grip. Put masking tape over the mark, start slowly without hammer mode, and switch hammer mode on once the tip has bitten in.

How do I hang pictures on plaster without cracking it? Put masking tape over the spot, drill a small pilot hole first, and then widen it. Do not hammer nails straight into old, brittle plaster.

Which walls work with self-adhesive hangers? Painted plasterboard, painted concrete and smooth painted plaster, as long as the paint is well bonded and the frames are light. Not wallpaper, rough brick or fresh paint.

Choose the frames, then the fixing

Browse photo gallery wall kits with the template included, read the full guide to hanging frames without drilling, or start from living room gallery wall ideas.