How to Keep So-Called 'No-Damage' Hooks From Ruining Your Walls

Hanging stuff on your walls is a great way to decorate and spruce up your home or add some storage to the place, but that comes with a downside: holes in your walls. Depending on your skill level with spackling and whether you own or rent, a few holes in the wall might not seem like a big deal, but if you’re uncertain of your ability to fix them up and/or worried about losing a security deposit as a result, you might hesitate to drill or hammer into the wall.

Enter so-called “no-damage” adhesive products like Command hooks. In theory, these products stick to your wall, hold enough weight to be useful, and then can be removed without leaving a mark or hole behind, protecting your walls and security deposit from damage. In general, these products work as advertised (as long as you follow the instructions), but they can actually damage your walls if you’re not careful. Instead of assuming you’re safe and paying the price when the time comes to move out and remove everything, keep the following details in mind any time you’re using a “no-damage” adhesive product on your walls.

Know your surfaces

No-damage adhesive products like Command hooks aren’t magic. They’re just specially formulated adhesives, and they absolutely will not stick to just anything. Your first step when planning to hang some on your walls is to read the instructions and make sure you’re putting them on an appropriate surface. Most of these products won’t work well on unfinished wood, exposed brick (or any irregular surface), or any kind of fabric or wallpaper, for example.

The condition of the wall matters, too. If the surface is grimy, crumbling, or peeling, there’s a good chance the adhesive won’t hold. And if the wall was painted recently, you’re better off waiting—the paint needs to be fully cured before you put an adhesive product on it, or it might take the paint right off the wall. For oil-based paints, that’s about a week, but for latex paints you should wait about a month before you put those hooks up.

Clean the walls

When was the last time you dusted your walls? You should be cleaning your walls annually, at least, but a lot of folks don’t bother—especially if they’re renting. But if you’re planning to stick any kind of adhesive on them, cleaning the walls is essential (that’s why it’s literally step one of the instructions on a Command hook). Particles and dirt can get between the adhesive and the wall, weakening the bond, and residue can undermine the bond as well.

That doesn’t mean you should just wipe down the wall with whatever cleaning product you have lying around. Most cleaning products will actually leave behind a residue that can interfere with adhesion, so you’re supposed to use rubbing alcohol.

Appropriate climate

No-damage adhesives are designed to be removed, and as a result they’re more fragile than some other adhesive products. They’re pretty finicky about the climate of the room they’re in, for example—they won’t work well if the space is very cold or very hot (the temperature range is officially 50° to 105° Fahrenheit for most indoor Command products).

You also have to consider humidity. If you’re hanging something on the wall of a bathroom, make sure you buy a product designed for a bathroom and other damp areas, otherwise the humidity and moisture can cause your hooks and shelves to slide off the wall. Luckily, these are pretty easy to find.

Correct removal procedure

The most dangerous moment for your security deposit or pristine, undamaged wall comes when you remove the supposedly no-damage adhesive. Again, you should consult the instructions that came with the product to ensure you’re doing it the right way. But just as important are your expectations: You’ll probably have more trouble getting the adhesive off your wall than you assume, and you’ll probably have some residue left behind (no damage doesn’t mean no residue).

So have a small toolkit ready to go when the time comes to pull everything off the walls:

• A hair dryer can soften up adhesive that doesn’t want to pull free.

• A putty knifecan get behind adhesive and gently pry it away from the wall. You can also use dental floss—slide it behind a hook that won’t come off and gently saw downward until it’s free.

• A microfiber cloth and some warm water should get any residue off the wall, but if it’s stubborn the putty knife can be used to scrape it off (gently). If it really doesn’t want to come off you can try a little more rubbing alcohol to scrub it off.

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