Part of the complete guide to hanging mirrors and artwork.
The kit you actually need
You can do 90% of hanging jobs with about £60 of tools, most of which you will use again. The detector is the one place not to economise — the cheapest models find studs but miss live cables.
| Tool | Typical cost | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Combined stud, metal and live-cable detector | £25–£60 | The only thing standing between a drill bit and a cable |
| Cordless combi drill with hammer setting | £50–£120 | Hammer for masonry, hammer off for board and tile |
| Masonry bits 5.5/6/7 mm and wood bits 2/3 mm | £10–£20 | Wrong diameter is the second most common failure |
| 600 mm spirit level or a laser level | £12–£45 | A phone app is not accurate over a metre |
| Tape measure and a proper pencil | £5 | Marks that survive being rubbed with a thumb |
| Assorted fixings for your wall type | £8–£15 | Buy for the wall you have, not the one in the instructions |
| Masking tape | £2 | Stops bits skating on tile and catches dust |
| Safety glasses | £4 | Masonry dust in an eye ends the afternoon |
Tool rental vs buying: what makes sense in the UK
Most hanging jobs never justify a hire ticket — the kit is cheap, small and gets reused. Hire only earns its keep for the awkward one-offs: an SDS drill through Victorian engineering brick, a rotary laser for a long gallery run, or a scaffold tower for a stairwell mirror. The simple test is the three-use rule: if you will use it three times in the next two years, buy it; if it is a single afternoon, hire it or borrow it from a tool library.
| Tool | Buy (UK) | Hire (1 day / week) | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stud, metal and live-cable detector | £25–£60 | Rarely hired | Buy — you need it before every hole |
| Cordless combi drill | £50–£120 | £12–£18 / £30–£45 | Buy if you own a home; hire for one flat-move |
| SDS+ rotary hammer drill | £70–£160 | £15–£25 / £40–£65 | Hire unless you drill hard masonry often |
| Diamond core drill / tile bit set | £15–£40 | £20–£30 / £55–£80 | Buy the bits; hire only the core rig |
| Cross-line laser level | £35–£110 | £15–£22 / £40–£60 | Buy if you plan gallery walls; otherwise hire |
| Rotary laser level | £250+ | £25–£40 / £70–£110 | Hire — overkill for domestic hanging |
| Dust extractor / drill dust shroud | £20–£90 | £18–£28 / £50–£75 | Buy the £20 shroud, skip the extractor |
| Podium step or 1.5 m platform | £70–£150 | £12–£20 / £30–£50 | Hire for one stairwell job |
| Alloy scaffold tower (stairwell mirror) | £600+ | £45–£75 / £110–£190 | Hire — never buy for a single wall |
| Suction lifting handles (heavy mirror glass) | £20–£45 | £10–£15 / £25–£40 | Buy — cheap, and you will drop less |
When buying wins
- Total spend under about £60 — a detector, bits and a level cost less than two days of hire plus fuel.
- You own the property and will hang shelves, blinds, curtain poles or a TV within the same year.
- The job is spread over several evenings — hire is charged by the day whether you use it or not.
- You need the tool at short notice on a Sunday, when most trade counters are shut or on reduced hours.
When hiring wins
- One-off heavy masonry: an SDS drill hired for £15–£25 beats a £120 purchase you use once.
- Access equipment — towers and podiums cost more to store than to hire, and hire stock is inspection-certified.
- Specialist glass handling for a single oversized mirror, where suction cups and a second pair of hands matter more than ownership.
- You are renting and cannot store tools; many councils and community tool libraries lend for £5–£15 a week with a membership.
The honest maths for a single heavy mirror: buying everything you would need for a solid-brick chimney breast comes to roughly £110–£200, hiring the drill and keeping the cheap consumables comes to about £45–£80, and having it hung professionally is £40–£75 with fixings, levelling and insurance included. If it is one mirror, paying a fitter is usually the cheapest route; if it is a whole house of art, buy the kit.
Not worth buying an SDS drill for one mirror? Get a fixed price to have it hung properly.