Hanging New Address Numbers

Good morning friends! I hope your weather is as nice as it’s supposed to be in Virginia today–high 70s! If it is, then it’s definitely time to do an outdoor project or two today. Hanging new address numbers on your front porch is a quick project that will make a huge difference in the front of your house. And more importantly, the new larger address numbers are more visible from the street, making your house easier to find in case of emergency.

Now that our peach tree is not hiding the front of our house, it’s time to put a little love into the front porch. I’m starting small, with new address numbers, before I dive into those rusty railings and the dirty front steps.

This project will take less than an hour and cost between $20-$30, depending on how many numbers you have in your address. The only skill you need is to be able to remove a nail with a hammer and know how to use your drill.

Disclosure: The links in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I earn a small commission if you click the link and purchase the item.

Supplies

You don’t need much for this project. You’ll need your favorite hammer, your favorite drill (I love my Ryobi one if you need one), and a your new house numbers (the ones I used–linked here–come in silver and black).

Now, I read the mixed reviews on these address numbers, but there’s really not a lot of options out there in a more modern style, so I took a chance. I had a little (ok, a lot of) trouble with the first one (the same trouble a lot of the reviewers had), but then I figured out a solution and the rest went up easily! I’ll detail below where I ran into problems and tell you how you can avoid them. You’ll be able to install these address numbers in no time!

Step 1: Remove your Old Address Numbers

This is the easiest part of all. All you need to do is pry the old numbers off the wall using the back (or the claw) of the hammer. I gently wiggled them out, so I didn’t damage the numbers, just in case I couldn’t install the new address numbers and needed to hang these back up.

Once I got all the numbers off, I wiped the wall down with a Clorox Wipe to get the dirt that had accumulated underneath them over the years. At some point I’ll come back and paint the whole trim, but that’s a project for another time.

Step 2: Plan Where Your New Address Numbers Will Go

My favorite part of these numbers is that the come with an installation guide!

All you have to do is tape the back of the packaging up where you want your address numbers, and then you’ll drill through the paper to get your holes exactly where you need them.

Make sure the numbers line up in whatever way you want them to (flush to the right side, the left side, or centered in the middle).

Step 3: Drill Holes for New Address Numbers

Now, take your drill and make the holes for your first number. Make sure your drill bit is the right size, either be following the package directions for the right size or choosing one that’s slightly smaller than your package screws.

This was one of the hardest parts for me, since I have this fancy (read, old fashioned) grooved molding around my door. I couldn’t get my numbers exactly where I wanted them because I couldn’t drill through the curved portion of the grooves. So, my numbers are slightly off centered, but I’m learning to ignore that 🙂

Step 4: Install New Address Number

Ok, here’s where I really struggled with these numbers and where a lot of reviewers struggled too.

The directions tell you to install drywall anchors, and place the screws in the holes you’ve drilled. Note: If you’re installing your screws into a wooden molding, don’t use the drywall anchors (as that isn’t drywall). I know this sounds silly, but I spent 20 minutes trying to install the provided drywall anchors, and some of my own, into the molding before I realized ‘oh wait, drywall anchors are for drywall not wood’.

The directions then tell you to apply the washers to the screws that will elevate your numbers off the wall. Then you should gently hammer your numbers onto the screws.

Let me tell you: this doesn’t work. I tried for 30 minutes with one number. All that happens is you push your screws into the wall when you try to hammer your numbers. I tried it as many different ways as I could, and no dice.

I was ready to give up and hang my old numbers up, when I decided to try one thing. Instead of attaching the numbers to the wall with the screws already in the wall, what if I screwed the screws into the numbers first, then hammered the whole thing into the wall?

This worked like a charm! The address numbers went in easily and fit flush against the wall with no problems!

Step 5: Drill the Rest of the Holes & Install the Rest of the Address Numbers

Once I figured out that trick, the rest of the numbers went super quick! It took thirty minutes for the first number, and I think it took me 20 minutes to finish the next three.

Step 6: Patch Old Holes (or Extra Holes You Accidentally Made)

Because of the grooves in my molding, I may have made a few (ok, a lot of) extra holes in the molding. There’s an easy fix for this–patch them! You can use wood filler if you’re patching a wooden molding, and then paint over it when it dries. (I haven’t gotten to this step yet, but I promise it’ll take you 5 minutes to patch the holes and then just a quick coat of paint).

And, Voila!

That’s it! Brand new address numbers and the start of a new front porch style in under an hour!

Now, maybe after posting another picture of our sad front porch will motivate me to start sprucing it up 🙂

~Lauren