very large mirror

[1Spirit]

My daughter wants a mirror in her living room, it is about 4'x5' and weighs about 50 pounds not counting the frame and shelf she wants.

Any suggestions on the best way to do this? I was thinking of mirror mastic and glueing it to the wall then build the frame around it.

Do you have any other ideas?

[cams2705]

All wall anchors have weight ratings. I would recommend building the frame with the mirror installed into it with the properly rated picture hanging wire on the back and two wall anchors in the wall to distribute the weight.

[jteneyck]

I would not use mirror mastic as it will telegraph through to the front in a few years. That's what happened with my bathroom mirror and I've seen it in many other mirrors installed that way. I would build a M&T frame, route a rabbet in the back, and install the mirror in the frame with mirror tape, which you can buy at your local mirror shop. I would route keyhole slots in the back of the mirror frame's top and bottom rails, with their location corresponding with two studs on the wall. Drive 4 round head or similar screws into the studs and hang the mirror. Very solid, and easy to remove if needed. That's the process I used to mount my new bathroom mirror. This method allows you to bridge over uneven walls, too. In that regard, I set the 1/4" mirror 1/2" deep in the frame so that there would be no chance of it hitting the wall. Only the frame contacts the wall.

John

[KC]

jteneyck said:

---

I would not use mirror mastic as it will telegraph through to the front in a few years...
John

---

I've not seen that, but I can say with certainty that someone will curse you long and loud when they go to take it off the wall someday.

[Maxwell]

I have a 4ft by 8ft mirror in a frame I built.
The frame is made of 1.5" x 3.5" solid oak, and a 1/2" ply back, screwed to the oak frame,
with 1/8" foam between the mirror & the ply to protect the silvering.
The Mirror is attached to the wall with four oak cleats screwed to the studs.
Hope that helps, have a good weekend.

[Wood'N'Scout]

Hanging anything that heavy I've always used a French cleat. Build the frame around the mirror deep enough to fit close to the wall and hide the cleat.

[cputnam]

Wood'N'Scout said:

---

Hanging anything that heavy I've always used a French cleat. Build the frame around the mirror deep enough to fit close to the wall and hide the cleat.

---

^^^^
This. We just hung ~60 lb. mirror w/frame. Used a store bought metal french cleat. The cleat spans 2 studs.

Since you can design for the problem, you can get away with a nice wooden cleat spanning 2 or more studs.

[Curlycherry]

My bathroom mirror is quite big and it had to partially sit on wall tile and the rest on the drywall. The tile stuck out from the wall. So I rabbeted a 1/2" piece of plywood to fit the wall flat, added a lip on the sides and bottom to support the mirror. Then I made a frame to fit over it that screwed from the sides into the plywood. I screwed the plywood to the wall, put the mirror in, and then screwed the frame in place. All is well.

Note, finish the back side of any pieces that are over the mirror. If you don't when you look in the mirror you will see the backside of the wood frame.

[Steve N]

Yeah mirror built into frame, and hung per French Cleat. Works, will never telegraph, and is easy enough to move for painting, cleaning, whatever.

[Bill Holt]

I framed a mirror about that size for my son and hung it the traditional picture frame method using heavy duty hardware and finding the studs.