Half the flags hanging flat on American walls are the wrong way round, and the people who hung them checked first. The rule is short, it is written into federal law, and it is counterintuitive enough that most explanations of it are wrong by the second sentence.
Which Side the Stars Go On
When a flag is displayed flat against a wall, horizontally or vertically, the blue union goes uppermost and to the flag's own right, which is the observer's left. Rotating the flag ninety degrees does not move the union to the other side. The stars stay in the top left corner as you look at it, every time.
That is Title 4 of the United States Code, section 7, subsection (i), and the wording is worth having in front of you because the phrase that trips people is the flag's own right. A flag has a right and a left the way a person facing you does, so its right is your left. Hang it vertically and the union does not travel with the rotation. It goes to the top of the hoist edge, on your left.
The same section covers a window display, where the union goes to the left of an observer standing in the street, and it adds one genuine exception. When a flag is suspended over the middle of a street, subsection (j) says it hangs vertically with the union to the north on an east and west street, and to the east on a north and south street. That is the only case where a compass decides the answer rather than the viewer.
Why It Feels Wrong When You Do It
The confusion comes from the marching image. People picture the flag carried past on a staff with the union leading, decide that the union should always be at the leading edge, and then rotate the flag in their heads as if it were painted on a rotating disc.
The Flag Code does not rotate the flag. It fixes the union relative to the observer. Once you hold that in mind, the vertical case stops being a special rule and becomes the same rule stated twice.
Our flag etiquette basics covers the wider set of conventions this sits inside, and flying multiple flags handles the order of precedence when more than one flag is on the wall or the pole.
What a Wall Does to a Flag, and What Nobody Warns You About
Here is the manufacturer's half of the question, and it is the half that decides whether the flag is still worth looking at in two years.
A flag is engineered around its header and grommets. The header is the reinforced strip along the hoist edge, and the grommets set into it are the only points on the flag built to carry load. On a pole, the halyard pulls through those grommets and the fabric hangs from a reinforced edge, which is what the whole construction is designed for.
Hang the same flag flat on a wall and you usually end up supporting it somewhere else. Tacks through the stripes, clips on the fly end, a rod through the middle, all of which put load into fabric that was never built to carry it. Indoors that mostly costs you sag and puckering. Outdoors it costs you the flag, because a flag fixed at both ends cannot move with the wind and tears at whichever point is holding it.
The other outdoor problem is that a flag flat against a wall sits in a permanent still air pocket. Moisture does not clear, dirt does not shake out, and the same square inch takes the same sun every day, so fading goes patchy rather than even. If you want a flag against an exterior wall, the right answer is almost never to hang it flat.
Mounting It Properly Instead
A wall mount pole holds the flag off the wall and lets it fly, which is what it was made to do, and it gets the union in the right place automatically because the flag hangs from its header.
Our vertical wall mount flagpoles run from 6 feet to 35 feet, with outrigger versions alongside them for angled display, and the standard package on a 10 foot wall mount pole includes a gold anodized aluminum ball ornament, a cast aluminum stationary truck, a cast aluminum cleat with mounting screws, a solid braided polyester halyard, swivel flag snaps with vinyl covers and the cast aluminum mounting brackets. Finishes are satin clear, bronze and black. These are ordered directly through our sales team rather than through the cart, so email orders@ederflag.com with the height and butt diameter you need and they will sort it out.
If you are working out where on the building it should go, our guide to where to mount a flag on a porch covers bracket placement, clearance and the mistakes that cost people a flag in the first storm. The full wall mount flagpole range sits behind it.
FAQ
Is it illegal to fly a flag at night without a light?
No. The Flag Code is a set of customs rather than a criminal statute, and it carries no penalties for private citizens. Section 6 states the universal custom of displaying the flag from sunrise to sunset, and adds that it may be displayed 24 hours a day when properly illuminated during the hours of darkness. Lighting it is the condition of the custom, not a legal requirement.
Should the American flag be on the left or right of the house?
Facing the house from the street, the flag takes the position of honor on the observer's left, which is the building's own right. If a second flag is displayed, it goes on the other side and the United States flag keeps that position.
How should a flag be hung horizontally?
The same way as vertically. Union uppermost and to the observer's left, flat against the wall, with no folds, drapery or bunting made from the flag itself. If the wall needs draping, use red, white and blue bunting rather than a flag.
What are the 5 American flag rules?
There is no official list of five, but the conventions people usually mean are that the flag flies from sunrise to sunset unless it is lit, that it is never allowed to touch the ground, that it is not flown in inclement weather unless it is an all weather flag, that it takes the position of honor above and to the observer's left of any other flag, and that a flag no longer fit for display is retired with dignity rather than thrown away.
