Can I Hang a Canvas Painting in the Bathroom

Y'all've bought a painting that you absolutely love, and you recall you lot've constitute the perfect spot for it. The only problem is that the "perfect spot" is in the bath.

Can I hang a painting in the bathroom?

Original works of art shouldn't exist displayed in the bathroom because of the frequent changes to the temperature and humidity can damage it. I recommend decorating your bathroom with reproductions considering they can exist replaced.

Y'all may be thinking that it'due south okay to take a chance ruining a painting because information technology was inexpensive and it wasn't painted by a famous creative person.

Try telling that to the artist who created information technology.

As an artist, I know that some of my paintings are going to be destroyed by accident or through negligence. There'south always a risk that a painting will be lost in a burn, inundation, or some other disaster. Then at that place's the collector who unknowingly damages an original painting by hanging it over a fireplace, or in a humid bathroom.

If a collector told me they hung my painting higher up their toilet, I wouldn't be flattered. I would also limited my concern that the frequent changes in humidity and temperature may impairment it in the long run.

You lot'll detect a divergence of opinion on this issue.

Some will claim that they've had a painting hanging in their bathroom for years without whatever damage. Bathrooms vary in pattern and usage and then this may be possible.

It'due south also possible that the longevity of the painting is beingness afflicted without any visible damage. Changes in temperature and humidity causes materials to aggrandize and contract. This can affect the condition of the painting in the long run.

The bath is not the best environment for artwork that you care about.

The Ideal Surround For Artwork

Art museums provide the ideal surround for artwork. Original works of art are priceless and museums carefully control the indoor environment to protect them.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art maintains a steady temperature and humidity level at all times.

"A computer controlled HVAC system maintains 70° temperature/50% humidity ecology status twelvemonth round in the galleries and storage areas. Each area within the Museum contains a sensor which will trip an alert if the levels go out of the normal range (±two°). In the case of an alert, edifice maintenance crews can react quickly to resolve any problems. This provides invaluable ecology protection for the Museum's collections."Philadelphia Museum of Art

The quotation above demonstrates that museums consider changes in humidity and temperature equally serious threats to their collections. A alter of 2 degrees in a higher place or beneath the normal range sends and alert to the maintenance crew and then they tin correct it.

Compare the museum surroundings to a bathroom where at that place are radical swings in temperature and humidity throughout the day. It could be said that the bathroom is designed to damage artwork.

The Risks of Hanging Your Painting in the Bathroom

Mold

Mold is a common problem in bathrooms because the abundance of h2o creates high humidity levels. When y'all take a shower you'll notice that many of the surfaces in the bathroom have condensation on them.

The mirror tends to fog upwardly and so do the metal fixtures. The condensation can course on the front or dorsum of the painting. Exposure to high humidity levels encourages mold to grow.

Mold is a common problem in bathrooms. The abundance of moisture encourages information technology to abound.

Mold is very destructive, especially to paper. Sometimes the mold is taking agree in places where yous don't notice. It tin can develop behind the matboard or on the back of the painting.

Mold and bacteria tin create very distracting spots on the surface of the painting. Fine art conservators call these stains "foxing." Download the following PDF from the National Athenaeum (United Kingdom) to meet an example of foxing on a watercolor painting. It'south at the lesser left of the 2nd page.

Foxing isn't something that yous tin merely wipe off the painting as if it were a bathroom surface. Restoring a painting that has foxing on the surface typically requires hiring an art conservation adept.

Equally a student, I stored an unfinished painting in a basement and mold developed on the back of the canvas. The front of the canvas looked fine simply the back was covered in mold. I abased the painting because of the mold growth. A bathroom is much more than humid than a basement.

Buckling

Loftier humidity can cause newspaper to buckle. The moisture in the air causes the paper fibers to expand and buckle. If it's in a frame then the paper may even buckle enough to come in contact with the glass. The artwork shouldn't be immune to touch the drinking glass because it can impairment the surface of the painting.

Buckling tin can detract from the appearance of the artwork. It'due south likewise hard to correct if it'south severe.

Cracking Paint

Changes in temperature and humidity causes materials to expand and contract. The wood stretcher bars that the canvas is stretched over volition expand and contract with changes in the environment. This tin can cause problems with the tension of the canvas.

Some other issue with having materials expand and contract is that it over the years information technology stresses the paint film. Dry oil paint is brittle and if the substrate is expanding and contracting below it, this motility can cause it to crack as it ages.

H2o Impairment

Every time yous take a hot shower, wet builds up on the surfaces in the bathroom. Condensation forms when the moisture in the air collects on a libation surface. Every fourth dimension you take a shower, a sparse film of water droplets are forming on the surface of the moving-picture show frame, glass, or even the artwork itself.

There's also the big h2o droplets that cover the surfaces in and around the shower. These h2o droplets evaporate into the air and raise the humidity in the bathroom.

Bathroom surfaces are exposed to large volumes of water on a daily basis. Condensation and large droplets of h2o class on the interior of the bathroom when the shower is in use. This is a photograph I took of water droplets on a mirror.

Yous should take precautions to protect original artwork from all sources of moisture.

Some painting mediums are more prone to water harm than others. Watercolor paintings are fragile. The watercolor paint itself is water soluble which ways they dissolve with water. Although watercolors have to be framed earlier they can exist hung on a wall, it doesn't protect the painting from changes in humidity and temperature.

Bathroom design and Usage

Nobody can guarantee that your painting won't get damaged in the bathroom because there are numerous variations in bath design, layout, and usage. Below are brief descriptions of the many variables that make up one's mind how harsh your bath is on your artwork.

Household Size and Patterns

If you live by yourself then your bathroom volition get a lot less usage than if you lot had a family unit of 5. When there are multiple people using the shower every twenty-four hours, that ways the humidity and temperature is going to fluctuate wildly throughout the day.

People also take dissimilar habits. Children don't always remember to turn on the exhaust fan every fourth dimension they take a shower. Very immature children may splash effectually in the tub for the fun of it.

The time spent taking a shower varies greatly likewise. Someone who woke upwardly late for work may prefer taking a curt shower considering they want to salve fourth dimension. Or perchance they prefer spending the extra time sleeping in.

Others like to use the shower as a place for thinking and having inspiration strike. A long shower is going to increase the temperature and humidity than a shower that lasts less than 5 minutes.

Water temperature has an impact upon how much steam a hot shower will create. A curt cold shower may not even fog upwards the mirror. Although but having large amounts of water nowadays in the room volition increase the humidity to some extent.

If a guest or family fellow member regularly smokes in the bathroom, it may stain the surface of the painting Xanthous. Bathrooms are very pocket-sized and enclosed environments. The smoke will build upwards faster in the bathroom than in a larger room such as the family room.

Bath Size

Many apartments have bathrooms that are the minimum size. They're only large enough for a toilet, sink, and a bathtub. Smaller spaces will fill up with steam faster than a larger space.

Luxury homes often have bathrooms that are larger than the average bedroom. A larger bathroom with a properly working exhaust fan won't increase in humidity as rapidly every bit a smaller bathroom.

Another issue with a small bathroom is that the painting will be closer to all of the sources of h2o. A small-scale bathroom doesn't have a lot of empty wall infinite. In that location's typically a space above the toilet or perhaps above the towel rack. Any empty wall space is probably within a few feet of the shower or toilet.

A large bathroom volition allow you to hang a painting on the wall furthest abroad from the shower.

One-half Bath

A "half bathroom" is a bathroom with a toilet and a sink. There's no tub or shower that will create moisture in the bathroom. The temperature shouldn't fluctuate equally much either.

The sink and the toilet may increment the humidity of a half bathroom, but it's not near equally much as the effect that a shower would take. An original painting is less probable to develop mold in a one-half bathroom than in a bathroom with a shower or tub.

Exhaust Fans

The bathrooms institute in older homes sometimes don't fifty-fifty have exhaust fans. If you have a hot shower in a small bathroom without an frazzle fan, the steam volition build up speedily.

I've lived in apartments with bathrooms that lacked an exhaust fans and there's ever a problem with mold. You tin open the window to help exhaust some of the steam but it'south not very effective. Opening a window in the centre of Winter when it'south 8 degrees outside isn't very pleasant either.

Even if the bathroom has an frazzle fan, the effectiveness of them varies. Older fans may not have a lot of power or have some other consequence that hinders the performance of it. At that place may exist a buildup of grit or some other obstruction in the vent that prevents it from exhausting the steam finer.

Reproductions Are Replaceable

I'grand not suggesting that the bathroom should be costless from artwork. Artwork can liven up what could otherwise be a dreary room. Many artists brand prints of their original paintings and offer them for sale at a fraction of the toll of what the original would price.

Ii sheet prints that I have hanging in my home. They expect almost identical to the originals.

Prints are made by photographing or scanning the original fine art. A loftier quality ink jet printer is used to print the epitome on sail or fine art paper. These printers are dissimilar than the ink jet printer you may have at dwelling. The inks are waterproof and resist fading. Some of the canvas prints I had made look equally skillful as the original.

At that place are canvas prints that are available with an optional protective varnish that will help to protect it. If you're going to hang it in the bathroom then information technology's probably worth the extra cost.

Prints are perfect for hanging in the bathroom. If a impress becomes damaged it'south a much smaller loss than losing the original painting. You may be able to buy the same print from the artist once more in the future. Or maybe you lot can try something new.

There are also cheap posters and reproductions available in department stores.

Final Thoughts

If you lot intendance enough virtually a piece of work of fine art to hang it on the wall, then delight take intendance of information technology and don't hang it in the bathroom.

Or higher up the fireplace.

And please protect it from direct sunlight.

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Source: https://drawandpaintforfun.com/hang-painting-bathroom/