How do you hang a picture on a brick wall was the question Tom asked me on a Sunday afternoon while he was standing in his third-floor Somerville apartment staring at a 5-pound framed print he had just hung with a single Command Strip. He had wiped the brick with isopropyl alcohol, pressed the strip for thirty seconds, and mounted the frame at 9:14 a.m. By 1:47 p.m. the frame had slid down six inches and was leaning at a 15-degree angle against the wall. By Sunday night his landlord had called to ask why there was a gray adhesive smear on the brick of his exposed interior wall. The landlord was not angry about the picture. The landlord was angry about the smear. Tom had learned in three hours what I had learned the hard way over three apartments and a dozen friends' apartments: the answer to how do you hang a picture on a brick wall depends entirely on which of the five kinds of brick walls renters actually live in, and the standard renter advice on the internet is mostly written for drywall, not brick. Here are the five brick types, the four methods that actually work, the one method that works on every brick type, and the one mistake that costs renters their deposit.
The Saturday Tom Hung a 5-Pound Frame on Brick (and What His Landlord Said the Next Day)
Tom's apartment was a classic 1908 Somerville triple-decker with an exposed interior brick wall in the living room. The brick was solid masonry, original to the building, painted white sometime in the 1970s and repainted twice since. It was not a brick veneer over drywall. It was a real brick wall, 8 inches thick, holding up the building. He had lived there for two years and had never hung anything on the brick wall because his lease explicitly prohibited drilling, nailing, or adhesives on the brick. He figured a Command Strip was not drilling, nailing, or an adhesive, so it was allowed. He figured wrong.
The landlord called at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday. The picture had slid down the wall overnight, the Command Strip had pulled the paint off the brick in a 2-by-4 inch rectangle, and the adhesive had bonded into the porous brick surface in a way that no warm-water-and-soap treatment was going to remove. The landlord sent a photo of the damage to Tom, then to me, then to a brick restoration contractor. The contractor's quote to repair the wall: $380. That included repainting the affected section, sanding the brick, and re-sealing it with a masonry sealer to lock in any remaining adhesive residue. The landlord charged Tom the $380 out of his security deposit, plus $120 for the contractor's visit, plus a $200 "administrative fee." Tom lost $700 of his $2,400 deposit over a single Command Strip and a 5-pound frame.
The lesson Tom learned, and the one I have watched six other renters learn the hard way, is that the standard renter advice for hanging pictures does not apply to brick walls. The advice assumes drywall. Brick is a fundamentally different surface, and the answer to how do you hang a picture on a brick wall requires understanding which kind of brick you have before you pick a method.
5 Kinds of Brick Walls Renters Actually Live In (and Why Each One Hangs Differently)
Across the apartments I have lived in and the apartments I have helped friends move out of, the interior brick walls renters encounter fall into exactly five categories. The category determines which hanging method works and which will cost you your deposit. The categories are based on two things: whether the brick is solid masonry or a thin veneer over drywall, and whether the brick surface is bare, painted, or sealed. Here are the five with the renter cases I have seen for each.
| Brick Type | How Common | Hang Difficulty | One-Line Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solid masonry, bare brick | Rare in apartments, common in lofts | Hardest | Requires masonry anchors; nothing else holds |
| Solid masonry, painted | Most common in pre-1960s buildings | Medium | Most methods work if you accept paint risk |
| Solid masonry, sealed | Uncommon but growing | Hard | Sealer blocks adhesion and most anchors |
| Brick veneer over drywall | Most common in post-1980 construction | Easiest (treat as drywall) | Anything that works on drywall works here |
| Thin brick or brick-look panel | Common in renovated rentals | Variable, often impossible | Cannot be drilled; needs adhesive-only or freestanding |
The reason the five types hang differently is that the answer to how do you hang a picture on a brick wall depends on what is behind the brick and what is on the surface of the brick. A solid masonry wall can hold a 50-pound anchor screwed directly into the mortar joints. A brick veneer wall cannot be anchored the same way because the brick is only 1 to 1.5 inches thick and there is drywall behind it. A painted brick wall accepts adhesive strips because the paint is the surface. A bare brick wall does not, because the porous brick absorbs the adhesive and the strip pulls brick dust off when removed. A sealed brick wall accepts nothing because the sealer is designed to repel exactly the kind of chemical bond an adhesive relies on.
The most common case in older Somerville and Cambridge triple-deckers, the case Tom lived in, is solid masonry with paint. The most common case in newer construction or recent renovations is brick veneer over drywall. The case I have seen fail most often is thin brick or brick-look panel, which renters sometimes mistake for real brick and which cannot be drilled at all.
The 4 Methods That Work on Painted Brick (and the 1 That Works on Bare Brick)
For painted solid masonry brick, the most common renter case, four methods actually work. The one method that works on bare brick is different. Here is the breakdown.
Method one, the renter-safe default: a brick clip hanger. These are spring-loaded metal clips that grip the top and bottom edges of an individual brick without putting any adhesive or hole into the brick. They hold up to about 25 pounds depending on the brick size. The only catch is the picture must be sized to fit within one brick face, and the wall must have visible mortar joints so the clip has edges to grip. Maria in a Quincy triple-decker used these for a 4-by-6 inch photo grid above her couch. Total cost $14 for six clips. Total damage: zero.
Method two, for slightly heavier items: masonry hooks with nail pins. These are hooks that ship with a small hardened nail that you tap into the mortar joint — not the brick face. The mortar is softer than brick, so it takes the nail without cracking the brick. But old mortar, especially in pre-1960s buildings, can be crumbly and may not hold the nail firmly. Test one nail first with a light pull. If it slips, stop and use a masonry drill with a sleeve anchor instead. You'll need a hammer drill and a masonry bit, but the anchor will hold where the nail won't. The nail goes into the mortar, which is softer than brick and less likely to crack. Holding capacity is about 10 to 15 pounds per hook. The risk is a small hole in the mortar that can be repointed at move-out for about $3 per hole. Marcus, who has rented four apartments with exposed brick, used these for a 12-pound mirror and took the holes out himself with a tube of masonry caulk at move-out for $8 total.
Method three, for heavier art up to 50 pounds: sleeve anchors drilled into the mortar joint. This requires a hammer drill and a masonry bit, which is more than most renters want to invest in for a single hanging. But if you have a drill and the right bit, a sleeve anchor in the mortar joint holds 50 pounds easily and the hole can be patched at move-out with $3 of masonry filler. Sofia in a Brookline apartment used this for a 45-pound framed mirror and it held for three years without shifting.
Method four, the renter compromise: brick adhesive hooks specifically rated for masonry. These are not Command Strips. They are specialty hooks sold at masonry supply stores that use a solvent-based adhesive designed to bond with porous brick. Holding capacity is about 5 to 8 pounds per hook, and removal requires a solvent that may also damage the brick surface. Tom's landlord had used these before on his own home and recommended them, but Tom tried a Command Strip first because they were cheaper at the hardware store. The Command Strip failed. The brick adhesive hook would not have.
The one method that works on bare brick (no paint) is method five: a sleeve anchor drilled into the mortar joint, the same as method three. Bare brick is too porous for any adhesive to release cleanly. The only reliable hanging is mechanical, and the only mechanical method that does not crack the brick face is anchoring into the softer mortar joints between bricks. This is the method a contractor would use, and it is the method that costs the most in equipment but the least in wall damage.
Why Command Strips Peel Off Brick After 30 Days (and the 1 Trick That Makes Them Last)
Command Strips and other pressure-sensitive adhesive strips are designed for sealed, smooth surfaces. Drywall is sealed. Glass is sealed. Tile is sealed. Brick is not. Bare brick is porous and mechanically rough. Painted brick is smoother but the paint layer is bonded to the brick, not the wall structure, and a strong adhesive will pull the paint off before it lets go of the brick. Tom's Command Strip failure at 4 hours was fast. The more common failure mode I have seen on painted brick is a 30-day creep, where the adhesive slowly elongates under the constant downward pull of gravity and the frame slides down half an inch over a month. By the time you notice, the paint is already starting to peel.
The single trick that makes Command Strips work on painted brick is the masonry adhesive primer. This is a thin liquid primer you paint onto the brick in a 2-by-2 inch square, let it cure for 24 hours, and then apply the Command Strip on top. The primer creates a sealed surface that the Command Strip can bond to, and the primer is removable at move-out with a solvent that does not damage the brick paint underneath. I learned about this trick from a building maintenance contractor named James, who uses it on the apartments he manages. The primer is sold as "Masonry Bonding Primer" at Home Depot, costs about $12 for a small can, and one can covers roughly 30 Command Strip applications.
Without the primer, Command Strips on brick fail somewhere between 4 hours and 30 days. With the primer, Command Strips hold much better than they do on bare or painted brick — closer to their rated performance on drywall, though I'd still derate them by 30 to 40 percent on brick. Use the primer for light frames under 5 pounds, and use mechanical anchors for anything heavier. The primer costs about $12 and covers roughly 30 applications, so it's a reasonable investment if you have several light frames to hang. The trick is the primer. It is the one piece of advice the internet does not give you, because the internet advice is written for drywall and assumes any wall is paintable. Brick needs its own primer for the Command Strip to work the way 3M rated it.
The 1 Mistake That Costs Renters Their Deposit (Hammer + Nail on Brick Veneer)
The single most expensive hanging mistake on brick walls is not a Command Strip failure. It is a hammer and nail on brick veneer. Brick veneer is a single layer of thin brick glued or mortared to the drywall behind it, usually in post-1980 construction or in renovations meant to give the look of exposed brick without the cost of structural brick. The brick face is real brick, but it is only 1 inch thick and there is hollow space, then drywall, then wood framing behind it. A nail into brick veneer does not anchor into the wall structure. It cracks the brick face and leaves a hole that exposes the hollow space behind, which then collects moisture and grows mold inside the wall. The repair is not $380. The repair is $1,800 to $3,500, because the contractor has to remove the brick veneer, replace the mold-damaged drywall, and reinstall new brick veneer.
Kevin, a friend who lived in a renovated 1990s condo in Brighton, made this mistake in 2019. He hung a 20-pound mirror with four masonry nails directly into what he thought was a solid brick wall. The wall was brick veneer over drywall. Two of the four nails cracked the brick face and exposed the hollow space behind. Within six months he had a visible mold patch on the drywall behind the cracked brick. The condo association charged him $4,200 for the repair, which included mold remediation, drywall replacement, and brick veneer reinstallation. He paid $4,200 to hang a $180 mirror.
The way to tell whether you have brick veneer or solid masonry before you drill or nail is to look at the wall edges. Brick veneer is usually 1 inch thick and has a visible edge where it meets the drywall or the door frame. Solid masonry is 6 to 12 inches thick and the wall edges are continuous brick with no visible seam. If you can see a seam where the brick meets another material, it is veneer. If the brick is the only material and runs from floor to ceiling, it is solid masonry. The distinction matters because the answer to how do you hang a picture on a brick wall changes completely between the two.
When to Call Your Landlord Before You Hang (the 3 Brick Types You Must Ask First)
Three of the five brick types require a landlord conversation before you hang anything. The other two you can hang on without asking, provided you use the methods above. Here are the three that need a call.
Type one, solid masonry brick with sealed surface: Sealer is a problem for adhesive methods, but it's much less of a problem for mechanical anchors. A sleeve anchor drilled into the mortar joint will still hold in sealed brick because it's gripping mechanically, not chemically. The sealer affects the surface, not the mortar behind it. So if you have sealed brick and need to hang something heavier than a clip can hold, you can still drill into the mortar joint — just confirm with the landlord first, because the hole is permanent and the patch won't match the sealed surface. the landlord may have sealed the brick as part of move-in prep to make it easier to clean. The sealer will block any adhesive method, including the masonry primer trick, and will require a contractor-grade masonry anchor if you want to hang anything heavier than 10 pounds. Call before you drill. The landlord may also have specific rules about what can be sealed or unsealed at move-out, and your patch may void a warranty.
Type two, brick veneer over drywall: call before any drilling or nailing. Even a small hole in brick veneer that does not crack the face can let moisture into the hollow space behind, and the repair cost is wildly disproportionate to the hanging you were trying to do. Most landlords will tell you to use adhesive-only methods or to hang on the drywall portion of the wall instead.
Type three, thin brick or brick-look panel: call before anything. Thin brick cannot be drilled. Brick-look panel (a printed plastic or MDF panel that looks like brick) cannot be drilled, cannot hold adhesive, and cannot hold clips because the surface is too smooth and the panel is too thin. The landlord may have rules against hanging anything on these panels, and the only way to hang on them is to use a freestanding easel or a leaning shelf that does not touch the wall.
For solid masonry painted brick (Tom's case), and for solid masonry bare brick in a loft, you can hang without calling the landlord if you use the methods above and you are willing to patch the holes at move-out with $3 of masonry filler per hole. The patch is a normal renter responsibility and the landlord cannot charge you more than the actual repair cost for a properly patched hole.
The one thing I would tell Tom if I could go back to that Sunday afternoon is to call the landlord before hanging anything on a brick wall, even if the lease says nothing about brick specifically. The landlord knows which of the five brick types the wall is. The landlord knows whether the brick is sealed. The landlord knows what the move-out patch cost will be. The five-minute phone call would have saved Tom $700 of his deposit, and it would have saved his landlord a Sunday-morning phone call about a Command Strip that should never have gone on a brick wall in the first place.
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