Tips for hanging holiday lights on your roof

The holiday season is upon us, which means it’s that time of year when many will put on their Clark Griswold hats, grab their ladders and staple guns and hit the roof. Although we can admit that Clark’s lights were impressive, the installation could have been safer for himself and his home. Hanging lights can be a difficult task, but with the proper tools everyone can achieve a beautifully decorated home while maintaining the integrity of the roof and allowing zero to minimal damage to your home’s exterior or your families reputation.

Safety is #1: Make sure you set up your ladder on level ground and use cords or rope to secure it to your home and to the ground to prevent the ladder from shifting. If you are not comfortable with getting on a ladder consider hiring a professional to help. Test your strands of lights before installing them to avoid a potential fire hazard due to an electrical short circuit.

Avoid nails: If using nails to secure your lights, you may be putting holes in your roof, siding or fascia which inevitability leads to water damage. Instead, use materials that clip onto the eaves or gutters of your roof. Hooks & clips are typically an inexpensive and safer solution to avoid damaging your roof. There are different clips for every roof type and can be found at your local hardware store.

Plug them in: Once all your lights have been clipped onto your roof and trim, it is a good idea to test them. If you see the lights are tripping your breaker then you may have too many plugged into one source, which could be a fire hazard. It is a good idea to redistribute them evenly among outlets to avoid any dangers to your roof or your home.