October 1, 2026

How to Hang an Aluminum Print: Fixings, Weight and Getting It Straight

A metal print hangs differently from a framed picture. There is no glass, no frame and no wire, which makes the job simpler than most people expect.

A metal print hangs differently from a framed picture, and most of the difference works in your favour. There is no glass to carry, no frame to keep square and no wire to fiddle with behind the panel. What you are hanging is a single rigid sheet with the mounting hardware already fixed to the back.

What actually arrives

Our aluminum prints are printed directly onto a brushed aluminum composite panel and shipped ready to hang. On the back is a concealed float mount, a block fixed to the panel that hooks over your wall fixing. Because the block holds the panel slightly away from the wall, the print appears to float, with a thin shadow line running behind the edges. That shadow is the whole point of the format, so it is worth hanging the panel where it gets some side light rather than flat overhead light.

There is no glass, which means two things on hanging day. The panel is much lighter than a framed print of the same size, and if you knock it while you are lining it up, nothing shatters.

How heavy is it, really

Lighter than people expect. An aluminum composite panel is a thin metal skin over a light core, so even the 60x60 cm size weighs a fraction of what the same square would weigh as a paper print behind glass in a wooden frame. In practice the panel is not what decides your fixing. The wall is.

The right fixing for your wall

Plasterboard or drywall: a plasterboard plug or a self drilling anchor is enough for all three of our sizes. Do not rely on a nail pushed into plasterboard on its own, because the board crumbles around it over time.

Brick or concrete: drill and use a standard wall plug. This is the easiest case and the most secure.

Tile, for example in a bathroom or a kitchen: drill through the glaze slowly with a tile bit and no hammer action, then plug as normal. If you would rather not drill tile at all, a heavy duty adhesive strip rated well above the panel weight will hold a 30x30 cm panel, though you lose the option of adjusting it later.

Old plaster and lath: find the timber behind it if you can. Loose plaster is the one wall type where even a light panel can come down.

Getting a square panel level

All three of our sizes are square: 30x30 cm, 50x50 cm and 60x60 cm. A square is less forgiving than a portrait print, because a tilt of one or two degrees shows immediately along the top edge. Two habits solve it.

First, mark the fixing point rather than the panel position. Measure the distance from the top edge of the panel down to the hook on the mount, then transfer that same measurement down from where you want the top edge to sit. Second, check with a spirit level or a phone level before you tighten anything, and check again once the panel is on the wall, because the mount can settle slightly on the fixing.

If you are hanging the panel above furniture, the bottom edge usually looks right about 15 to 25 cm above the top of the sideboard or the sofa. On an open wall, aim for the centre of the panel at roughly 145 cm from the floor, which is close to average eye level.

Two panels or four

Square panels group well because you never have to balance one proportion against another. Two 50x50 cm panels with a 6 cm gap between them occupy 106 cm of wall, which suits most sideboards and many sofas. Four of the same size in a two by two grid make a block of 106 by 106 cm, which reads as one large piece from across the room. Keep every gap identical and treat the whole group as a single shape when you centre it.

Cleaning and humid rooms

The printed surface is wipe clean. A dry or slightly damp microfibre cloth is all it needs, and unlike paper or stretched canvas the panel will not warp or ripple if the air in the room is humid. That makes metal the better of our two formats for a bathroom or a kitchen wall. Avoid abrasive cleaners and solvents, and do not mount the panel where it will be hit directly by shower spray.