Getting it on the wall

The part nobody explains. How high, which hook, whether it needs framing, and how to keep it looking the way it looked when it arrived. Every piece on Gallpack shows its own version of this on its page, worked out from its real size and weight.

How high: the centre at 57 inches

Galleries hang to a standard, and the standard is the centre of the piece57 inches from the floor. It is roughly the eye level of a standing adult, and it is why work on a gallery wall looks composed and the same work at home often doesn't: almost everybody hangs too high.

To find the hook: take half the height of the piece, add 57, then subtract how far the wire drops when you pull it taut. On a 36-inch canvas with an ordinary wire that is 57 + 18 − 6, so the hook goes about 69 inches up.

Two exceptions worth knowing. Over furniture, leave 6 to 10 inches between the top of the sofa and the bottom of the frame, even if that pulls the centre a little above 57. And in a room where everyone is sitting down — a dining room, a snug — drop the whole thing a few inches.

Which hook

By weight, and always rated above what you are hanging. The weight shown on a Gallpack piece page is the packed weight, box and padding included, so a hook rated for it has room to spare.

• Under 10 lb — one ordinary 20 lb picture hook, straight into plasterboard, no anchor.
• 10–20 lb — a 30 lb hook. Two if the piece is wide, which makes it far easier to keep level.
• 20–40 lb — two heavy hooks, spaced about a third of the width apart, or one screw into a stud.
• Over 40 lb — a French cleat screwed into studs. Past this weight a single hook in plasterboard is the wrong answer whatever the packet claims. A cleat spreads the load along the wall and lets you slide the piece sideways to level it.

What your wall is made of

• Plasterboard (drywall) — the usual. Picture hooks up to about 30 lb hold fine on their own; past that find a stud or use a proper toggle anchor.
• Old lath and plaster — brittle. Drill a pilot hole rather than hammering, and expect some crumbling.
• Brick, block or concrete — masonry bit, plastic plug, screw. Slower, but it will hold anything.
• Studs — 16 or 24 inches apart in most US construction. A stud finder is worth the $15 if anything you own is heavy.

Framing

Three different things get called "framed", and the difference is money:

• Framed — done. Hang it.
• Ready to hang, unframed — usually a stretched canvas with finished edges and hardware on the back. Nothing more is needed; framing is a choice.
• Neither — usually a work on paper. It needs framing or mounting before it goes up, and that is a real errand and a real cost. Every Gallpack listing says which of the three it is.

If you are getting something framed, two things are worth paying for and one is not. Worth it: acid-free mount board and backing, because ordinary board yellows the paper it touches within a few years, and UV-filtering glazing if the piece will see any daylight. Not worth it: an elaborate moulding that competes with the work. Framers will show you fifty; the plain one is usually right.

Get a quote before you buy if the framing budget matters. A large work on paper can cost a meaningful fraction of the artwork to frame properly, and it is better to know that on the listing than at the framer's counter.

Where not to hang it

• Direct sunlight. The single biggest cause of fading, and it is not reversible. A wall opposite a window is fine; a wall the sun lands on is not.
• Above a radiator, a fireplace or a stove. Heat and soot, rising all day.
• Bathrooms, and outside walls in an unheated room. Damp is what buckles paper and grows mould behind canvas.

Keeping it well

• Dust with a dry, soft brush — a clean makeup brush is ideal. Never a damp cloth on an unglazed painting.
• Glass gets sprayed onto the cloth, never onto the frame, so nothing runs down inside.
• Carry it by the sides of the frame or the stretcher, never by the wire or the top edge.
• Storing it — upright, off the floor, with something soft between pieces. Never flat with anything stacked on top.

If it arrived damaged

Photograph it before you unpack it any further, including the box, andtell us. Damage in transit is refunded in full — seethe Guarantee. Do not have it repaired first: the photographs are what settle it.