Replacement wall hanging system

 This is meant to be a wall-hung house but the intended hanging mechanism is crude at best, and potentially disastrous at worst.  There are two holes in the back wall of the attic rooms, so on full view when looking in.  A second small surround of the same thin plywood is supplied, and the instructions are to glue the surround on the back on top of the hole in the back wall, thus creating a double thickness hole.  The hanging mechanism is to insert two screws into the wall so that their heads protrude slightly, and then place the house over the screws so that the holes receive the screws.  So either you have two screw heads sticking into your attic in full view, or, you balance the house so that the screws are only within the double thickness of thin plywood so that you can cover over the hole with wallpaper.  This would not only be quite precarious, but all the weight of the house is likely mostly on the small plywood surround with its minimal glued footprint.

I decided I didn't want to risk it and I had already covered over my holes with wallpaper.  After some thought, this is what I came up with.

So I have glued a wooden batten across the back of the house, with two mirror hanging plates screwed into it in such a way that the weight of the house will be taken by the wood, and not by the two small screws holding the metal plate in place.  The metal plate serves to prevent the house jumping off the screw head, but the screw head itself is inside a hole in the wood.

Not only should this be stronger because of the much larger glued footprint of the batten, but  I also (with heart in mouth) screwed through in two places into the house for extra strength.  I measured carefully so that my two screws will be concealed behind the false wall in the bedroom.

Mirror plate covering a shallow hole created with a Forstner drill bit

Screws going into the back wall of the house

Corner pads at the bottom of the house so that it will hang straight on the wall

First coat of paint on the back. I'm purposefully not painting the

battens because I don't want  paint marks rubbing off on my walls

The disadvantage of this solution is that the house will not sit quite flush with the wall, because of the batten.  I would rather accept that than come home to find all my hard work smashed on the floor!

Of course, I still have no idea where I am going to hang the house.  We have a lot of awkwardly placed radiators and windows in our old house.