Christmas is almost here, and for many that means decking their homes with festive lights to help spread holiday cheer throughout the neighborhood. However, installing Christmas lights on your roof can be risky and could potentially cause damage to your roof, or, more importantly yourself.
What’s the Best Approach to Decorating Your Roof without Damage?
- Hang lights along pillars and windows
- Limit your walking time
- Don’t attach any decorations to your roof
- Have a helper
- Make sure you use to the right ladder
Here are some tips for installing Christmas lights on your roof to help minimize these dangers.
Inspect All Lights and Cords
Before you start, double check that all your power cords are long enough; you want to make sure that the power cord isn’t what’s holding your decor to the roof. Additionally, untangling all your strands of lights now will save you time and effort when you are on the roof later.
Plug in the decorations on the ground to make sure they work properly before you get on the roof. Check for any frayed electrical lines, bad bulbs, or lights that appear to flicker. These could be signs of electrical damage, which poses a fire hazard that could damage your roofing.
Use lights and extension cords rated for outdoor use and a proper grounded power source. The last thing you want is an electrical problem – or worse, a fire – because you used cheap cords. Additionally, make sure that you use cords that have enough capacity for all the products you will attach to them as well as the circuit you are using from your home. In addition to being a fire risk, this could short out the circuit or cause the plug to burn out.
As you go, watch out for loose cords or those lying in a manner that may occasion tripping incidents or cause them to get pulled out of their outlets. Make sure decorations, including inflatable items, are away from power lines and plugged into a portable outdoor circuit.
Hanging Lights
Hang lights first along pillars, eaves, windows, and posts to provide a structural base for the rest of your lights. Don’t ever nail or staple lights to your roof; instead, string them through plastic clips attached to your shingles, gutters, and eaves. These plastic clips are affordable, easy to install and remove, and readily available at most home improvement or large retail stores. If you use nails or staples to fasten your lights to your roof, you will puncture your shingles or gutters? even the tiniest hole in a shingle can allow moisture to leak in and potentially damage the roof. You can also puncture the wires of your lights or wear down their insulating coating, potentially causing electrical problems.
Big Decorations
Big decorations can be challenging, so make sure you move with caution as you install them on your roof. Do not try to carry decorations, lights, or tools up the ladder with you. Instead, have someone pass these items up to you or hoist them up with a rope.
As with lights, never nail or screw big decorations to your roof. Instead, install them securely using zip-ties and sandbags, or by tying them to a chimney or other structure for additional support. Especially tall decorations may require additional securing with guy wire. If the fixtures aren’t supported sufficiently and fall over, they could chip a tile or tear into shingles.
If you plan to put up the same decorations every year, a qualified roofer may be able to help you install permanent mounts that will be leak-proof and enable you to simply bolt your items onto the existing brackets each season.
Walking on Your Roof
To increase the lifespan of your roof, try to limit how much you walk on your rooftop. However, spending a short amount of time on your roof a few times a year won’t do too much damage, as long as you’re careful. Walk gently and wear soft shoes with a good grip. Get any work on your roof over with earlier in the day, before the shingles have soaked up too much sunlight? Direct sun exposure can heat the surface to well over 35 degrees, even on cooler days.
While you’re up there, you might as well inspect your roof for any kind of damage. Look for loose or broken tiles, loose shingles, or tears in the roofing material. Take up a broom to clean out any debris that might have accumulated in the gutters or valleys of the roof. Check for signs of ice-damming, which can form if there’s snow on the roof. These dams prevent meltwater from leaving the roof, which can result in water damage. If you find anything suspicious, you’ll want to have it inspected by a roofer.
Taking Down Decor
You might be in a hurry to get your Christmas decorations down when the holidays end but avoid pulling on the lights to remove them from their clips. Doing so can damage the shingles, any eaves or gutters you’ve attached the lights to, or even the lights themselves. Taking the time to remove each clip individually is much cheaper than replacing gutters or shingles later.
To learn more about the do’s & don’ts of decorating for Christmas, click here. If you notice any repairs or maintenance that may be needed this holiday season, don’t forget to call Johnson Roofing Solutions! We have offices in Panama City and Chipley with our service area expanding from Tallahassee to Pensacola. We are fully licensed and insured, locally owned and operated, and prepared to take on any roofing project from minor repairs to complete replacements or even new construction.
All of us at Johnson Roofing Solutions are wishing you the happiest of Holidays. Contact us today and let us be your solution!
