"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
.uk...
Richard wrote:
At the insistence of SWMBO I'm trying to hang various pictures around
the house.

Problem: the house is built from a type of white brick which is very
hard and shatters given half a chance.

Hardened picture hanging pins (black shank with brass head) bend as if
made of toffee.

I presume that these: http://tinyurl.com/ywx855 hardwall picture
hooks - described as not suitable for plastered walls - cannot be
used.

Quite the reverse - they are designed for very hard walls. I think the
B&Q site means 'not suitable forplasterboard walls' or 'not suitable for
plaster skimmed walls' - in the latter case the pins might be too short to
reach solid brick.

My house in cement rendered and OBO masonry nails bend! Those picture
hooks are what we use.

Seconded.

In our old 1930s flat the walls were made of bricks "that seemed to have a
core made out of coal" or some similar fiendishly hard material.

We could just about get an OBO masonry nail in if we were lucky, but those
plastic hooks with the 3 or 4 sharp pins were VERY successful. We still use
them in our modern house, including on plasterboard in a few cases - for
very light pictures only.

Regarding the 3M self adhesive hooks - think I'd avoid those if you want
your pictures to stay up for a long time. I used some of their self adhesive
"3M Control" hooks in the conservatory a few years ago to put up some
Christmas lights - tacky eh? Anyway they stuck like s**t to the UPVC window
frames, but this year when I went to refit the lights to the hooks they just
fell off - the adhesive had packed up. Maybe the combination of wildly
varying temperatures and the slight dampness/condensation, but I wouldn't
use them again.

Regards,
Simon.