A framed jersey is not a poster. Real glass, backing board and moulding add up to real weight, and the frame is meant to stay on that wall for years. Choose the wrong fixing or the wrong wall and you will notice – at best through a crooked picture, at worst through broken glass. This guide walks through what matters for fixing, height and location.
Know the weight before you drill
Before the drill comes out, you should know what is going on the wall. The simplest method is to weigh it: step on the bathroom scale alone, then again holding the frame. The difference is your planning figure – and you should round it up generously when choosing hooks and wall plugs. A 50 × 70 cm frame with real glass is noticeably heavier than a 40 × 50 one.
If you went for acrylic instead of real glass, you are carrying far less: acrylic weighs a fraction and is shatterproof on top of that. That is exactly why we recommend it for children's rooms or livelier spaces.
Which fixing for which wall
The wall behind the frame decides the fixing, not the frame itself. A quick knock test helps: a hollow sound usually means plasterboard, a dull and solid one means concrete or solid brick.
In concrete or solid brick an ordinary expansion plug holds reliably – the important part here is blowing the drill hole clean so the plug really grips. In plasterboard and stud walls expansion plugs fail instead: the board is only a few millimetres thick and the plug tears out under load. You need cavity or toggle fixings that spread out behind the board, or better still, hit the stud behind it. In older buildings with hollow brick or clay, take care: the material itself offers little grip, so longer fixings or resin anchors are the safe choice.
When in doubt, go one size sturdier than needed. The price difference is pennies; the damage from a falling frame is not.
Two fixing points instead of one
A single hook in the middle will carry the frame, but it lets it shift every time a door slams. Two points, set roughly at half the frame's width, spread the load and keep the picture straight for good. A spirit level – or the one in your phone – saves you constant readjusting.
The right height
A reliable rule of thumb: centre of the picture around 145 to 150 cm above the floor. That is roughly eye level standing up, and the height galleries hang at. If the frame goes above a sofa or sideboard, take your cue from the furniture instead and leave about 20 to 30 cm of air above it – otherwise the frame looks like it is resting on the backrest.
In rooms where people mostly sit, a few centimetres lower is fine. What counts is the eye level of the people actually looking at the piece.
The right spot in the room
Direct sunlight is a signature's worst enemy. Even with UV protection the rule holds: the less direct light, the longer signature and jersey colours stay vivid. Museum glass filters up to 95 % of UV radiation, but it still does not make a south-facing wall in full midday sun a good idea. A wall opposite the window is almost always better than one right beside it.
Also unfavourable: rooms with high humidity such as bathrooms, and spots directly above a radiator, where warm air rises and causes constant temperature swings. Why this matters so much for autographs is covered in detail in the guide Why does an autograph fade?
Several frames as a wall group
As soon as two or more frames hang together, the alignment makes the impression. Keep an even gap of roughly 5 to 8 cm between frames and line them all up along an imaginary line – either along the top edge or, with mixed formats, along the horizontal centre axis.
One trick that saves a lot of frustration: cut the frame formats out of newspaper and tape them to the wall with masking tape. That way you see the layout at full size before the first hole is drilled.
After hanging: almost nothing to do
Care is quickly explained. A soft, dry or slightly damp microfibre cloth is enough for frame and glass – never spray cleaner directly onto it. With acrylic, additionally avoid anything containing alcohol or solvents and wipe without pressure, as the surface scratches more easily than real glass. The inside of the frame is sealed; you never need to go in there.
Not sure which format suits your wall, or how best to lay out a group? Write to us – ideally with a photo of the wall, and we will look at it together before anything gets drilled.