Tips for Hanging Christmas Lighting

Tips for Hanging Christmas Lighting on your Home or Business

Choose a Theme

To achieve a more professional-looking display, establish a theme for your lights. For a more traditional look, consider using warm tone LED lights. For a more modern look, use cool-toned LED lights. Add pops of color to personalize your theme. Red and green are holiday favorites, while other colors give a more unique look.

Pick a Focal Point

Find an interesting roof-line, door frame, tree, or other architectural aspects of your property to be the focal point of your display. Then, make sure to light it well! When lighting your home, keep in mind that small areas with plenty of string lights will often look better than large areas that are thinly lit.

Make a Plan

Before hanging your lights, plan out which lights will go where. Once you have determined which areas you would like to light, grab a tape measure and measure the length of each area, as well as the distance to the nearest power outlet. Then, determine the length of lights you currently have. This will save you multiple trips to the hardware store for more lights.

Calculate Christmas Light Wattage

Ensure that you will not blow a fuse by measuring the amount of wattage your lighting plan will require. To determine the required wattage for your Christmas lights, multiply the wattage of the bulb by the number of sockets to get the total wattage of a string light, then divide the total watts by 120 to reach the total amps.

Test Lights Before You Begin

Before you begin hanging your lights, plug them in on the ground to ensure all bulbs are working and don’t need replacing. It is much easier to replace bulbs before the lights are hung, and testing lights can help you identify any damaged strings.

Use Christmas Light Clips

Avoid using screws and nails to hang your lights, as these can easily puncture the wiring on the lights creating a fire hazard. Instead, purchase Christmas light clips from your local hardware store to safely and effectively attach the lights to gutters, shingles, and roof-lines. Attach the clips to the lights before hanging for a quick and easy installation.

Use Timers

Instead of plugging in dozens of strands of lights each night, sit back, relax, and let Christmas light timers do the work. Using timers will also help to reserve energy, as your lights will turn on and off at the same time each evening.

Hire a Professional

Hanging Christmas lights on your own can be time-consuming and even dangerous.

Avoid icy rooftops and unstable ladders and give Long Island Christmas Light Installation a phone call (631) 246 4558  or (646) 833 0843. Our professionals will help you create a beautiful display that compliments your personality and the architecture of your property. We will take care of set up, maintenance and take down while you enjoy the holidays.