Christmas Light Installation: A Beginner’s Guide

Hanging Exterior Christmas Lights Can Be Easy
If you celebrate Christmas and live in a private home, chances are that you will, at some point, want to make the season more festive by hanging Christmas lighting outside. Contrary to what many people believe, learning how to hang Christmas lights isn’t difficult. Here are some tips to get you started.

Getting Ready
It’s best to find someone to help you rather than undertaking a Christmas light installation project on your own. However, if you cannot find one, hang a receptacle (either a basket or a bucket with a handle) from a nail or an “S” hook on your ladder. This will limit the number of times you need to climb up and down from the roof during the course of your work. Carefully scrutinizing all of your exterior Christmas lights before you–and, if available, your assistant–ascend the ladder is also a good idea. Ensure that all lights are operable and have no frayed areas in the cords prior to carrying them up the ladder with you.

Starting At The Top
One of the most important things to remember when doing a Christmas light installation is to finish each piece of the project before starting on another. Otherwise, you may miss something important and will find yourself re-taking steps you thought you had already completed in the course of installing Christmas lighting outside. Start with the roof line. You can run an extension cord through a window or plug it into an exterior outlet and running it from there to the roof line, keeping it as close to the house as possible and making certain that the outlet is not exposed to rain, snow, and sprinkler water. Then, install fasteners or holders over which to drape the extension cord or cords and the strings of exterior Christmas lights themselves. Space all fasteners uniformly, and ensure that they hold up to 10 pounds.

The Hang of It
Once the fasteners or holders have been installed, it’s time hang your exterior Christmas lights. Starting at the power source, “follow” the fasteners across to the other side of the line. Suspend an individual string, then plug in the next string, then the next, etc. Never plug all the strings together to speed things up, as it will result in a mess of tangled light strings. Finally, double-check that the light string cords of all Christmas lights outside are secure in/on the fastener and cannot be knocked off the roof. Do the columns on your home next, interspersing light strings with natural or artificial holiday garland. Removable tacky clay, placed behind the string garden, will help adhesion here. Loop light strings under and over the railing of your porch, and–with the same peel-and-stick fasteners you used on the roof, along the top of the porch enclosure. Done! See, learning how to hang Christmas lights, and doing a Christmas light installation on your own, isn’t as difficult as you thought. Enjoy your handiwork!