wall plates

**pablojani** · 03-01-11, 12:38

Can anyone tell me the best way to hang wall plates on the walls? I have a large collection of wall plates. They were stuck on the walls with Prestik [horrors]. The Prestik held well and I lost very few plates but then I had to take them all down to do painting. Getting the Prestik off the walls was a nightmare. Now I want to put the plates back but i have vowed never to use Prestik again. I bought wire plate holders and goodies to hammer into the wall to hold them. The problem is that every time I try to hammer in one of these plastic goodies (it has 4 or 5 pins that should actually go into the wall) the plaster on the wall breaks and I am left with a gaping crater which I then have to fill in with Polyfilla. Is there a special knack in knocking in these hooks? I have also tried with brass hooks that have one pin you hammer in, same thing happens, plaster breaks.
There must be a simple solution to this. Help appreciated.

**mellowred** · 03-01-11, 13:31

Hi Elizabeth it is obviously the wall plaster that is causing the problem. You may have to drill holes and use nails.

**MsPlod** · 03-01-11, 13:45

There is another way to do it which can make a difference. If the plaster is so brittle, then this helps with drilling too.

Put a number of strips of good-quality masking tape over the wall where you want to drill or hammer. These help to reduce the vibration and can keep the plaster intact.

**pablojani** · 04-01-11, 09:12

Thanks guys, for the advice. I should have mentioned that these walls are VERY hard. They were not built with clay bricks but with concrete bricks. So I am not sure if it is the plaster to blame. But I am becoming an expert at filling in the craters that form when I try to knock in nails. LOL This morning I tried Ms Plod's tip with the masking tape and it worked like a charm. I now have one plate back in place and I hope that it works as well when I do the rest of them otherwise I will be putting a lot of wall plates on BoB. One day I may have to take all the plates down again if I move but I think that removing the hooks and squares of masking tape will be less of a hassle than removing the Prestik was.