How do I hang a tile with this unfamiliar kind of hardware in the back?

December 8, 2012 1:57 PM

How do I hang a tile with this unfamiliar kind of hardware in the back?

We picked up a couple of very heavy stone tiles in Thailand. They're roughly 4X5in. In the back, there's a nail like thing protruding about an inch (that's a baby's hand, not an adult's.)

How do we hang these on a plaster wall? What are these nail like things called?

posted by arabelladragon to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

The biggest issue is that the tile is going to stand out from the wall the distance of that hanger. I would put some sort of rubber/felt/whatever pads that extend the same distance from the tile on each of the back corners (to make it hang even with the wall), then I would put a small wire loop over that tile and hang if from a regular picture hanger....
posted by HuronBob at 2:27 PM on December 8, 2012

That's just begging for something like an eyehook, which you will support by screwing it into a stud.
posted by dhartung at 2:51 PM on December 8, 2012

If you or a friend are slightly handy, you could take a small wooden board that is a bit thicker than the protruding nail, then drill a hole into it that approximately matches the angle of the nail. Mount the board on the wall, then slide the nail into the hole. You could also cut an angle across the top of the board, in lieu of a hole, which would provide a ledge for the nail to hang on. The board could be painted to match the wall if you like.
posted by orme at 3:18 PM on December 8, 2012

I would consider just taking an angle grinder to remove the nails and hang them the usual way
posted by ZackTM at 7:44 AM on December 9, 2012