How to Safely Install Christmas Lights
Holiday lighting sends a lot of people to the emergency room every year, and almost always for the same reasons. If you are doing your own display, these are the practices that matter most, and the point at which it is worth handing the job to someone else.
Start on the Ground
Lay every strand out and plug it in before anything goes up. Finding a dead section from the ground takes a minute. Finding it from a ladder costs you the whole run twice.
Inspect as you go. Cracked insulation, exposed wire, bent prongs, corroded sockets and brittle plastic all mean that strand is finished. Damaged product is the origin of most electrical problems in outdoor displays, and it is not worth saving.
Check that everything you are putting outside is rated for outdoor use, cords included. Indoor product outdoors is the most common shortcut and the least defensible one.
Ladder Rules That Are Not Optional
Set the base one foot out from the wall for every four feet of height. Too steep and the ladder tips backward, too shallow and the base slides out.
Put it on firm, level ground. Frozen turf, mulch beds, soft soil and sloped driveways all shift under load. Never rest a ladder against a gutter, which is not built to carry weight and will deform or give way.
Keep three points of contact at all times and carry nothing in your hands while climbing. Do not stand on the top two rungs. Above all, never reach sideways past your shoulders. Climb down and move the ladder, every time, even though it is slower.
Electrical Safety
Outdoor circuits should be protected by a ground fault circuit interrupter. If your exterior outlets are not GFCI protected, that is worth addressing before a display goes up, not after.
Respect the manufacturer limit on how many strands can be connected end to end. LED product allows far more than incandescent, but the limit still exists and exceeding it is how connectors overheat.
Keep connections off the ground and out of standing water, and use outdoor rated cords sized for the run. Never staple or nail through a wire, and never run a cord under a rug, through a door jamb or across a walkway where it can be damaged or trip somebody.
Fasten Without Damaging the House
Use clips made for the surface you are working on. Shingle clips, gutter clips and siding clips all exist precisely so that nothing has to be driven into your roof or trim.
Every nail or staple into a roof surface is a hole, and holes in roofs eventually find water. The repair costs far more than the display ever did, and it usually shows up months later as a stain on a ceiling.
Pick Your Day, Not Your Deadline
Work in dry conditions and in daylight. Frost, wet leaves, rain and wind all make roof and ladder work substantially more dangerous, and winter afternoons run out of light faster than people plan for.
Never work on a roof alone. Somebody should know you are up there and be within earshot, and on any roof steep enough to make you think twice, that is the moment to stop rather than the moment to be careful.
Know Where Your Limit Is
Single story rooflines, porch rails and shrubs are reasonable do it yourself territory for someone comfortable on a ladder. Second and third story peaks, steep pitches, slate or metal roofs, and anything requiring a lift are not.
There is no prize for finishing the high sections yourself. Professional crews do this work daily with the right equipment for the pitch, and the same judgment applies in January, when takedown happens in colder and wetter conditions than the install did.
Or Let Us Do the Climbing
We design, install, service, remove and store holiday lighting across Knoxville, Chattanooga, Birmingham, Huntsville and Cincinnati. You never touch a ladder.
