Pic Update! How to hang posters on the ceiling?

[Sylentwulf]

I have a reasonably rough ceiling. It's not popcorn-ceiling, but it's not smooth either. It's like scraped plaster/spackle.

Anyways. I have no room space for posters/etc... but I have a ton of stuff I'd like to hang. And my ceiling seems the perfect place. The question is, HOW. I don't really care about damaging the ceiling. I did a pretty crappy job on it, and I own it. I don't want to do work on it to make it look better, so the poster idea fits well :)

Heres the generic crap I've come up with:

Thumbtacks - Ugly, put holes in the posted, imagine I would need a LOT of tacks for a full size poster on the ceiling.

Scotch tape - DESTROY the poster usually, wouldn't stick too well to the ceiling, need more than "four corners" for ceiling as opposed to wall.

Double sided "thick" tape - so far my best bet. It only ruins the back of the poster, but it's foam/thick. So I'm not sure how hard I'll have to press to get it to stick well to the ceiling. Don't know if I could get it off the poster at ALL afterwards

Framing - No way. Money, awkward sizes. Not an option.

? That's about all I can think of. Anyone else have any good ideas?


***********************************************
Ok, 6lb test fishing line. Here are 3 pics. I spaced eye hooks out roughly 10" apart in a grid fashion. Took me about 15-20 minutes to do a 5*5 grid (20 hooks total) I just ran the line back and forth through the hooks as opposed to tying it off at every single friggin hook, tying it off at the ends only. Honestly, tying it off took longer than anything else, I HATE tying fishing line.

http://electricquarter.com/pics/ceiling.jpg
http://electricquarter.com/pics/ceiling1.jpg
http://electricquarter.com/pics/ceiling2.jpg
There are actually 5 lines in this last pic, just to show that the lines really AREN'T as visible as they appear in the first 2 pics. it's just the flash bouncing around up there creating shadows. That's a full size poster (24"*36" or so?) that I got from a calendar lik sang sent me once.
My wife walked in right when I was finished and she didn't know what I was doing, she didn't notice it until I drew her attention to the lines.

[Jumpman Jr.]

What about extending multiple numbers of some sort of string (fishing wire maybe) from one end of your ceiling to the other. If you had them going at about 1 foot away from eachother (and if they were tight enough) it would probably give the posters enough strength to not sag down.

[Sylentwulf]

Not a bad idea, maybe fishing line. Room is 20 feet though. Trying to get 20-40 extremely tight pieces of 12 foot fishing line going across the ceiling might be a bit difficult :)

I'd probly have to screw the line into the walls to keep it tight enough. a tack or nail would just pull out.

[briskbc]

Stationary stores have these metal clips that just pinch on to paper (think clipboard). At worst then would just put a slight crease in the poster. After that you just get some kind of fastner to attach to the clips and screw/nail them to the roof.

[Sylentwulf]

Stationary stores have these metal clips that just pinch on to paper (think clipboard). At worst then would just put a slight crease in the poster. After that you just get some kind of fastner to attach to the clips and screw/nail them to the roof.

But this has the added effect of big ugly chrome corners, and drooping middles.

[tylerwillis]

I actually thought about doing the same thing once, but I got tired of having the popcorn stuff coming down in me eyes. @_@

In any case, you might think about laminating the posters and having the plastic extend to form a border. Thumb taking the border would keep your poster in decent shape and the added rigidity should help it not sag so much.

[Jorpho]

I use the 3M "Command" adhesive sticky tabs to hang my posters. They're really strong, and in theory they can be removed without damaging a surface (though of course I have not had a need to take my posters down, so I have yet to test this).

My biggest worry with using these on a ceiling would be not getting the poster taut and having ugly bulges everywhere.

[Sylentwulf]

Laminating causes the 2 biggest problems again, ugly thumbtacks, and cost.

3M adhesive stuff has the 2 problems of sagging without using enough of it, and a HUGE cost (that and I think in order to not damage the surface it has to be pulled off within a few hours, not years :)

I'm probably gonna go out and pick up some very small pound test fishing line and some plant hanging hooks. I can tie the fish line onto the hooks, which will screw into the walls 6" apart, and I can make it tighter by simply screwing the hooks in tighter.
This will hopefully create a VERY taught, ner invisible, very sturday layer upon which I can put anything from a magazine page, nes/guitar hero width box, up to a full size poster and or cardboard standup on the ceiling perfectly.

Figure total cost - around $5. I'll test it out with 5-6 bands first and see how it looks/holds up and report back ;)

[tylerwillis]

If it works out for ya, I (and others likely) would be interested in seeing some pics of the process and/or the final result.

[izret101]

Good luck with it.

I would LOVE to see pictures as this could help solve at least 2 problems for me.

1) A tole ceiling that tacks don't like to stick in
2) Ruining posters by taking/taping them
3) No space for displays and i have 2 in my trunk that i bought 2 days ago :-/ (Mario Kart DS and Dragon Warrior 8)


As for that easy remove sticky adhesive stuff i have had that ruin a few things on me.
Posters being one of them

[kainemaxwell]

I use the 3M "Command" adhesive sticky tabs to hang my posters. They're really strong, and in theory they can be removed without damaging a surface (though of course I have not had a need to take my posters down, so I have yet to test this).

My biggest worry with using these on a ceiling would be not getting the poster taut and having ugly bulges everywhere.
I have the same problem but its not the ceiling its roof slants with my room being the top floor/attic of the house. Would that 3M stuff work to make the posters stick and remove the buldges in the middle too?

[Sylentwulf]

The only other thing I've come across in my searching is poster-putty, which would prbably work very well. I'll probly try that if the fish line thingy doesn't work out :)

[Jumpman Jr.]

Cool.
I don't know how I thought of that really. As soon as I read your post, I thought "Hmm.... maybe instead of holding it from the back of the poster, why not the front." But that led me to a dead end because I didn't think that would do anything. Then I thought of some string.
Good luck though, hopefully it all works out, and I'd love to see some pics when its all up and done. 8-)

[rbudrick]

The posters covering my ceiling are all held up with staples. I like to put smaller pictures in between the borders of the posters, making a cool collage look, but with the larger posters still the centerpiece. I haven't really seen any sag in the middle in ten years or so, and my whole ceiling is covered....must be all the staples at the edges where the smaller pictures are.

-Rob

[Sylentwulf]

Staples are going to be my second, last resort method. The problem is damage to the posters, and my type of cileing won't even hold staples very well. It's a very thin layer of drywall mud over very hard type of wallboard/backerboard. So it ends up very rough, uneven, soft outer edge with a hard crunchy core.

mmmmmmmm... crunchy.....

[rpepper9]

The only other thing I've come across in my searching is poster-putty, which would prbably work very well. I'll probly try that if the fish line thingy doesn't work out :)

I have used Poster Putty before and it to ruins posters. The putty takes on any small amount of greese or dirt from your hands and it bleeds through to the paper of the poster. Not too noticable on dark spots on the poster but lighter color look like you have set a potato chip or a french fry on the corners of the poster. So if you are going to use that, make sure your hands are super clean! Although I don't know if that would work for a horizontal mounting on the celing.

[Jorpho]

I have used Poster Putty before and it to ruins posters. The putty takes on any small amount of greese or dirt from your hands and it bleeds through to the paper of the poster. Not too noticable on dark spots on the poster but lighter color look like you have set a potato chip or a french fry on the corners of the poster. So if you are going to use that, make sure your hands are super clean! Although I don't know if that would work for a horizontal mounting on the celing.

I used putty before I found the 3M strips. I actually have a few posters that are held up with putty and still haven't fallen down, but I had to use a LOT of putty. I think humidity weakens its effectiveness, but in any case I doubt it would be sufficiently strong to hold up a poster on a ceiling for very long.

I also think the "grease" is actually a component of the putty rather than something picked up from your hands. The easy way to get around this problem is to simply put some scotch tape on the back of the poster in the spots where you are applying the putty. Nothing wrong with a bit of scotch tape on the back.

Perhaps a combination of putty and 3M strips would be an effective and reasonably-priced solution?

[Darren870]

I use staples for everything...they are nearly impossible to see but i have a whole ceiling coverd with them...and working on another now

[jajaja]

Many many years ago I used some blue stuff that looked like gum. It wasnt sticky as gum so you could easly remove it, but it helt posters very well. Unfortuneatly I dont remember whats its called.

[Jorpho]

Many many years ago I used some blue stuff that looked like gum. It wasnt sticky as gum so you could easly remove it, but it helt posters very well. Unfortuneatly I dont remember whats its called.

Yes, that's the aforementioned poster putty, sometimes known as "blue tak" (or "fun tak").

[rbudrick]

I use staples for everything...they are nearly impossible to see but i have a whole ceiling coverd with them...and working on another now

Yep...no matter what, all methods are somewhat invasive, and the staples are nearly invisible. Unless you want to get frames or maybe one of those department store thingies that hold all the posters, I don't see a way around using a "make a hole" method, or using some kind of sticky, which could be worse.

So they'd really fall out of your ceiling due to the material? Weird.

-Rob

[jajaja]

Many many years ago I used some blue stuff that looked like gum. It wasnt sticky as gum so you could easly remove it, but it helt posters very well. Unfortuneatly I dont remember whats its called.

Yes, that's the aforementioned poster putty, sometimes known as "blue tak" (or "fun tak").

Ah ok, didnt know the name for it. Thanks :)

[Sylentwulf]

Yep...no matter what, all methods are somewhat invasive, and the staples are nearly invisible. Unless you want to get frames or maybe one of those department store thingies that hold all the posters, I don't see a way around using a "make a hole" method, or using some kind of sticky, which could be worse.

So they'd really fall out of your ceiling due to the material? Weird.

-Rob

Well, the fishing line method is completely moveable, interchangeable, and non-damaging in any way, that's why I wanna give it a try first :)

And not so much as fall out of the ceiling, but either break the staple, or knock out large chunks of the ceiling. The outside is too soft, and the inside is too hard.

Think cookie on backerboard. The staple is going to explode the cookie, then bend on the backerboard.

[rbudrick]

Think cookie on backerboard. The staple is going to explode the cookie, then bend on the backerboard.

Wow, that bad huh? Hmmm, short of a new ceiling, I guess you're in a pretty tough situation. I guess if you put a floating tile ceiling over that, you'd be ok, but expensive, and it lowers your headspace.....prolly less expensive than a new sheetrock ceiling, though.

I've got an idea I've had for a while:

Instead of framing you could take large pieces of plexiglass cut to size and sandwich the posters between two sheets (screw the two sides together). Fasten these "plexitiles" to the ceiling. These tiles would allow you to fasten the posters to the ceiling without damaging the posters, but will still make somewhat bigger holes in the ceiling when you then screw these new plexitiles into it. I've always wanted to make a floor with this method too. Anyway, find the beams in the ceiling and with the correct placement of the posters, you won't have to worry about them not being fastened well enough.

I suppose sheets of plexi glass are cheaper than frames. More expensive than tape and staples, though. LOL

-Rob

[Saabmeister]

Sylentwulf, that wall and ceiling design is freakin' awesome!

[tylerwillis]

That's pretty sweet - assuming you decide this is a workable situation, I'm sure we'd love to see the final result.

I'll probably try the same next time I attack a ceiling with posters. :)

[Mattiekrome]

Wow, impressive... I was skeptical on whether or not the fishing line would work... Looks great! :)

[Jorpho]

Indeed... So what's so hard about tying fishing line?

[kainemaxwell]

Got pics yet?

[Sylentwulf]

Got pics yet?

Um, the first post? :)


Indeed... So what's so hard about tying fishing line?
I just suck at it. A boy scout, I am not. The damn stuff is invisible and slippery. I don't even tie my shoes more than 4-5 times per year and that's the ONLY knot I know how to do.

[Jumpman Jr.]

Crazy how one man's entire basement got a makeover from me thinking for 2 seconds.
Looks nice!

[Sylentwulf]

Added 5 more posters. Found out I had a LOT of tightening to do on those lines :)

I might go with 10lb test line and REALLY CRANK on it to tighten it up, I haven't had a string break yet, but it's gotta be getting close. Not due to the weight of the posters and such, but to the amount of tightening I'm doing.

[Mr-E_MaN]

I was just trying to think of a way to hang posters on my ceiling, and then I see this thread!

My posters are mainly of horror movies though. (Bigger then 2'X3') This does seem like a good idea, but wont the corners sag down over time with fishing line? I was thinking of buying some sort of molding to make the outsides more rigid. Kind of like what you can buy to put reports in. They come in 11" long with plastic coverts. Those are pretty cheap, and maybe I can get some longer ones somewhere.

I've been procrastinating for over a month now, but I think it's time to get something done. :-)

[Sylentwulf]

I'm overlapping everything by a half inch or so because I think it looks better, and I think it will take care of the corners sagging as well. The posters I haveup right now (like the death by degrees one) are VERY VERY heavy. I might actually end up stapling those in place where they are since I don't care about them much, but the lightweight things like the posters that came in classic consoles I don't want to damage and won't sag down at all.

[kainemaxwell]

Using 3M mounting tape for the posters hanging on my slanted walls. Holding up quite well, no sags in any them thus far. Shouldn't be a problem then to use it to hang my huge San Andreas poster up now.