Picture Frame Hanging

Being the proud grandparents that we are, we naturally wanted to hang pictures in our RV to enjoy the smiling faces of our grandchildren on a daily basis. But, how are we going to do that without nails and with the earthquake movement of a traveling home won’t they fall off the wall? The answer for us was a 3M product that uses interlocking fasteners with an adhesive that adheres firmly to a flat surface, yet removes cleanly without damaging the wall. The “medium” fastener strips cost around $4.00 for a package of three sets of two. These medium fasteners can hold frames up to 3 pounds. There are three critical steps in the process of putting up picture frames in your RV. First, you need to decide where they are going to be placed. Once you accomplish that important task and you still have your sanity, you must apply the strips to the back of the frame. It is very important that you clean the area where you place the fasteners with rubbing alcohol. This makes the adhesive work better. If the frame is not flat (it has to fit flush with the wall) then use liquid nails and a popsicle stick as a trowel and make a flat spot on each side of the frame where the tape will be placed. Let the Liquid Nails dry completely before attaching the fasteners.Once the 3M fasteners are on the frame it is important that you actually hold the frame up to the wall where you want it and when your wife says, “perfect!” then you carefully mark (with a pencil) on the wall where the corresponding interlocking fastener strip will be placed. Once you know where to place the corresponding fasteners, you clean the surface with rubbing alcohol (being careful not to rub off the pencil marks) then you pull the backing off the fastener and place it in the pre-marked location and let it cure for the recommended time. I gave my strips 24 hours to cure before I attached the frame to the wall.Now all you have to do is align the frame and press it to the wall so the interlocking strips engage. When you want to take the frame down to change out a picture simply lift it at the bottom edge and it comes right off. We thought for sure these picture frames (which have glass in them) would fall off the wall on the first trip. Well, after two years all the pictures are well secured and have never fallen off. We even have pictures on the rear wall where the most significant vibration occurs and they travel fine. Now you can hang as many pictures as you like and you don’t even have to put one single hole in the wall. Hang in there! Jim