How to hang a mirror without a frame on the wall: three secrets of a home master
It is difficult to imagine a house without mirrors. They decorate the room and visually expand the space. Mirrors are used by professional designers in their work and create with their help an intricate play of light and shadow.
It is not difficult to choose a suitable mirror for your home, it all depends on personal preferences, but there may be some difficulties with its installation. In this article, we will talk about how to hang a mirror without a frame on the wall, and describe in detail three ways to do it yourself.
The content of the article
Three mounting methods
At first glance, all the decorative mirrors on the wall seem the same. Of course, if the differences are in form, but this is already the work of the master, but in fact all this is one and the same material.
In fact, this is not so, and mirrors differ from each other in several ways. We intentionally started our article with exactly this, because before you buy and hang a mirror on the wall, you need to know about its characteristics. For different rooms it is necessary to use different mirrors, and their first and main difference is the sheet thickness.
The thinnest mirror can be only 4 millimeters thick. This is a very fragile product with which you need to be extremely careful. Any awkward movement and your mirror cracked or even completely cracked.
Weight also depends on the thickness, and it is natural that installing a heavy mirror on a wall is a much more complex process and not every wall will withstand it.
It may also be different for mirrors and amalgam. This is a special spraying on the back, which turns ordinary glass into a mirror.
Cheaper models are made using aluminum amalgam. No, it cannot be said that these mirrors are bad or of poor quality. Aluminum will last for many years, and it does not fade, but such mirrors have one significant drawback - they fog up when the temperature drops. This can often be observed in the bathroom when the mirror is covered with perspiration as soon as you open the hot water.
To prevent this from happening, the decorative mirror on the wall should be made with a silver amalgam. Such mirrors are more expensive, but condensation does not form on them, which is very convenient. On the other hand, the mirror on the wall in the living room does not need such qualities, and there is simply no point in taking such an expensive option.
So, we figured out the characteristics of the mirrors and we can proceed directly to the question of how to hang a mirror on a wall.
Method One: Glue
The easiest, fastest and at the same time reliable way of fastening. Even a large mirror on the wall will adhere perfectly to the glue base and will not sag over time. Special glue for mirrors is sold in tubes and in consistency resembles liquid nails known to everyone.
Important! Mounting the mirror on the wall is carried out only with the help of special mirror glue. It is not known for certain how manufacturers make it, and how it differs from liquid nails, but experience shows that only it is able to provide high-quality fastening.
In order to fix the mirror, simply apply glue to the amalgam and press it against the wall for several minutes. The glue set time is 3-5 minutes, so no problems should arise.Unfortunately, despite the simplicity of this method, it can not always be used.
There are a number of limitations and subtleties that you need to know about when choosing a method of mounting your mirror:
- To fix the mirror to glue, the wall should be perfectly flat. If there are differences and defects on the wall, the glass will be in constant tension and sooner or later it will simply burst from the slightest unsuccessful touch.
- The glue has excellent adhesion to mineral surfaces, but it doesn’t interact at all with the glossy surface of ceramic tiles, so this method is not suitable for mounting mirrors, for example in the bathroom or in the kitchen.
- High humidity and frequent temperature changes are also limitations on the use of glue.. Over time, they will destroy its structure, and the mirror will begin to move away from the wall, and it is good if you manage to find it in time.
- The mirror glued to the glue can no longer be removed without damage. To be more precise, the only way to dismantle is to split it, so think carefully before you get to work, you can’t outweigh it.
- Before installing the mirror on the wall, make a complete marking, guided by the level. The glue will set fast enough and you won’t have time to adjust the position. The mirror should only be glued according to the markings previously applied.
As you can see, there are quite a lot of restrictions, but if the place where you are going to hang the mirror meets all of the above requirements, consider that you are very lucky and you will install quickly and without much effort.
Method Two: Adhesive Tape
Popular wisdom says: if, either, you can not fix it with adhesive tape, it is better not to get to work at all. There is some truth to this. Adhesive tape is a great invention, and double-sided tape is a miracle.
Mirrors can also be glued using double-sided tape, and unlike the adhesive mounting method, this option has several advantages:
- The mirror can be easily removed at any time and outweighed. Modern adhesive tape easily peels off if necessary and does not even leave traces on the surface.
- Curvature of the walls when mounting on scotch tape is unimportant, just do not try to squeeze the canvas if it does not reach the tape. Better use an additional mount.
- Scotch tape does not lose its qualities under the influence of moisture and high temperatures.
Unfortunately, this method of attachment is not ideal. Adhesive tape, just like glue, cannot be used on tiles, and from a low-quality mirror it can tear off part of the amalgam during dismantling.
Also, do not hang large mirrors on the wall with scotch tape, since it does not have a very high endurance indicator and under heavy load, the mirror can simply slide off the mount.
Advice! Do not use ordinary roll adhesive tape for mounting, it is very difficult to remove. Today, there is a special fastener based on double-sided tape, which uses a special technology for safe removal. The price of such fasteners will be higher, but then you do not run the risk of spoiling the mirror when dismantling.
The third method: dowels
The most complex and time-consuming method that will require you not only the ability to handle a power tool, but also increased accuracy. This is the only way to mount the mirror on the tile, and it can be used on uneven surfaces.
Fixture for mirrors have a special design and consist of several components:
- Plastic sleeve. Clogs into walls and expands when a screw is driven into it.
- The screw itself.
- Clamping element. It is screwed onto the screw and has an external thread for fixing the decorative plug.
- Decorative plug. It is made of chrome or nickel-plated metal.
For fastening on the expansion bolt shield, in a mirror it is required to drill openings. It is very difficult to do this without damaging the product, so it is better to contact specialists.
If you order curly mirrors on the wall, then immediately clarify this point. You can, of course, drill them yourself, but this requires experience and knowledge of the intricacies of the process.
Glass is drilled with a special drill with diamond coating. This process is long and complex, so instead of going into lengthy descriptions, we recommend that you watch the video in this article which shows instructions for working with mirrors.
Today you can find a huge assortment of fasteners for mirrors. Each of them is designed for different materials of which the walls are built.
For example, fasteners for bricks cannot be used on plasterboard partitions (seeFacing walls with drywall: do it sequentially), since they have developed special dowels called “butterflies”. Butterflies do not just open inside the wall, they press the dowel from the inside, due to which the load on the partition is significantly reduced.
Advice! Before you hang a large mirror on the wall, make sure that it does not reach the floor. The ideal distance to the bottom is 10 centimeters. This will protect the mirror from accidental shock during cleaning.
And in conclusion
As you can see, the mounting methods are not so small, and which one to choose depends on many factors. The main difficulty will be mounting in the bathroom, since there is a traditionally aggressive environment, so you have to work with a puncher.
And finally, an important tip: in the nursery or bedroom, use only special safety mirrors on the wall. They do not break into small pieces, but only become covered with cracks. Of course they cost a little more, but when it comes to security, it is better to throw aside concerns about saving.
