‘Tis the season to make your home’s exterior festive! If you’re wondering where to get started when hanging holiday lights from your home’s gutters, we’ve got a few tips to offer.
1. Measure your home:
Upfront planning will make the rest of this process go smoothly. Create a simple sketch or outline to record the areas on your home’s exterior you’d like lights to hang from. If possible, the most accurate measurements for gutters will be taken by getting up to them on a ladder and using a measuring tape for each length. Then, be sure that you have the right length of light strands and extension cords to meet your plans.
2. Choose your clips:
The type of clip you choose will dictate which way your lights will face once mounted to the gutters. The four main options to use on gutters are:
· Omni All in One Clip (lights will face outward horizontally, like image below)
· LED All in One Clip (lights will face outward horizontally, like image below)
· Original Shingle Tab (lights will face vertically)
· Gutter Clip (lights can face either way)
To attach the clips, either snap them over the top of the gutter’s front edge or place them under the shingles (reference the instructions for the clips you purchase for detailed instructions).
The good news? Often, the same clips can be used on the areas where you’re hanging on gutters as well as where you’re hanging on the roof’s shingles.
3. Hang the lights:
You’ll want to start hanging the lights closest to the outlet first. Reference your measurements from earlier to be sure that the extension cord chosen is long enough to span the desired gutter area, while leaving enough slack that it can follow along the bottom edge of the home and then move upwards to the roof’s corner (this will help hide the cord and make everything look clean). Attach your lights to the clips, and then start placing the clips on the edge of the gutter. Once you reach the end of the first area of guttering, if you hadn’t measured the light string to end there, simply keep stringing it upward toward the peak of the roof or downward to line the edge of the home.
Please be careful and use necessary precautions for your home to make the process a safe one. Then, enjoy the beauty of the holiday season at your home!
