Before the invention of the laser, hanging photos or art on your walls was a guessing game. It wasn't unusual to go through three or four nail holes for every photo that eventually got situated on the wall of a Toronto townhouse. That's a lot of spackling and re-painting when it comes time to move the art or sell the home. Luckily with the range of laser devices that are available at hardware stores these days we can be a lot more accurate. Here are some ways to use lasers to hang photos or art.
Find the Studs
Larger photos and artwork won't stay on the walls if their hooks are just nailed into the plaster. You need to find the stud - the 2x4 inside the wall - to provide a proper anchor. They're only a few inches wide and are separated by between one and two feet depending on who built your Eve condo, so they can be difficult to find. Before lasers, the only way to locate them was to use the inaccurate method of listening for the sound change while knocking on the wall, or to drill small holes. Today you can just slide a stud finder across the wall and locate it by the beep.
Achieve Symmetry
You can take the guesswork out of trying to hang photos on two opposite walls of a unit of Mississauga condos at the same height by using a laser. Laser levels work best for this sort of work. Simply place the laser level on the top frame of the first photo and shine the light on the wall opposite. Then align the top of the frame of the next photo with the laser spot.
Measure Precisely
There's a significant difference between where the top of the frame lies and where the hook on the back of the picture is, so you can't just hammer the hook into the wall of your Halton real estate where you want the top of the frame to be. Place your photo against the wall and shine your laser distance finder down from the edge onto the hook. The distance finder will tell you how far down the wall you need to put your hole.
Hang it Level
Once you've got the hole in place, you're still not finished unless you want your Leslieville home to be a gallery of crooked artwork. Some people have an eye for when photos are level but if you don't, place your laser level on the top of the frame and adjust until it shows the picture is hanging level.
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