Hanging Christmas lights the easy way
Michelle has been after me for a while now to post this so she can share it with you. It started about 4 years ago after a particularly extensive Halloween decorating binge on my part…I “do” Halloween in a big way here in the Hinterlands. Michelle puts up with it, so I decided I needed to “do” Christmas with the same enthusiasm for her. To do this I started with putting icicle lights all across the front of the house and up the roof line, so that it gave a winter wonderland effect for her to enjoy. Some lit deer in the yard on a blanket of green mini lights and one pop up lighted spiral tree for each member of the clan in their favorite color….I go for points when I do a thing. Over the years, I have added a little here and there to the point that now it takes me a couple of days to get it all done….I do it alone since the members of my clan are the intellectual kind and not mechanically inclined. So this lead me to figure out how I can do this faster and safer.
So here we go, I HATE climbing on the roof! The older I get, the less I like to do it. Don’t get me wrong high places do not scare me, I used to work on the top of power plants for a living….I enjoy being on top of the world, BUT home roofs are just plain dangerous and working on ladders propped up on the sides of houses, so you can reach stuff is insanely dangerous, especially if you are working alone. Putting up those first icicle lights almost did me in. I was working on a too short ladder on a too loose patch of decorative rocks and having to stretch to get to any thing. And, to hang those lights with the clips you get from the local home improvement store means I had to CLIMB to the peak of each roof to slide the clips onto the shingles and then string the lights. The second year I went and rented a 22 ft ladder to do it thinking I would feel secure…that was not the case, I still felt like I was going to wake up in the ER before I finished. I pondered that feeling and decided I needed another outcome and then it hit me. I have been using a lighting clip system I bought to attach the lights to the gutters while I was standing on the ground. How could I hang the peak lights standing on the ground?
Since the roof line on the garage was 17 ft long on each side, I had to saw a few sections of conduit and hook them together using couplings to get the proper length. I also had to figure a way to connect 2 sections, so they could be spread out to fit.
The next thing to figure out is how to “hinge” these pipes so that they run down each side of the roof. I did this by drilling a hole in the end of each conduit and using a 3/16 inch round braided wire with a ferrule/stop crimped on each side, so that I could have a center hang point. These are going to be redone at the end of the season before I put them away.
Once I had the EMT sized, the next step was to attach the lights to it, I did this using zip ties. A side note here, I had said earlier in the post that I started this project to hang icicle lights, this year we are changing to the large single bulb C9 type these are also warm white LED’s which is going to be less of a drain on the power and hopefully cut my bill. The icicle lights are mini’s and draw a considerable amount of electricity. The other up side to switching to LED’s is that I can string up to 90 strings together……safer that way.
The other thing I had to consider is that the light needed to hang down so the lighting strands were oriented to the center of the V facing each other.
The fasia hook will fit on the braided wire and the pipes will hang and spread out so that they look like they are part of the roof.
I installed one hook at the top of each peak, in the fascia boards, on my roof line and install a second hook (one on each side) about half way down.
the side to keep the EMT from sagging.
We were running out of day light so I did not trim the zip ties before hanging the pipes, these were taken back down and cleaned up later.
Did I mention I hate ladders!
The end of the EMT will lay inside the gutter to help hold it in place and the center hook will keep it from sagging. the Lights on the pole will connect to the lights that will run around the gutter and plug in to the next set of peak lights.
As you can see, the lights fit under the shingles and look like that are part of the house at night.
The job is a long one to do the first time, but after that initial investment of time it takes me about 3 hours to string all the roof line lights by my self and taking it down is even quicker. After breaking down I disconnect the couplings and fold the extension poles to help with storage. IF you do this correctly, there is no need to take the lights off the EMT and it will all fit right back where it was the past year.
Take care,
Steve
Great post, Steve! I’m sure you’ve made a lot of people’s Christmases even merrier!
Great idea! And it looks so straight and neat ! Love it!
we plan on doing it with PVC pipe this year.
I would definitely be interested in seeing that!
of course, we never did it. Hubby ran out of time. Maybe next year I will have him start in October.
If you do it, I would love to see photos! I knew I wanted to put this on the blog and that we were restringing this year, so I had hubby working on it in early November. I’m sure the neighbors thought we were crazy!
If I decide to do this I to will use PVC, it is sturdy and much cheaper.
Genius!!
Thanks! -Steve
As a holiday light installer I appreciate the hard work that went into putting this together. It looks great! nice work.
Hey Bill, Thanks for the complement! Some times I feel like Clark Griswold when I am putting lights out :). this really does make it easier.
Nice solution. I hate climbing on ladders, ever since I rode one down the side of the house when the feet slipped. Too old to do that any more.
Great idea! But, what does EMT stand for?
It stands for Electrical Metallic Tube 🙂
🙂 Correct Tracy, Thanks for letting them know.
Steve
Hi Maxine, Tracy beat me to the answer. I used 1/2 inch tubing and it comes in 10 ft lengths. let me know if y’all try t
Steve
SHAZAM!!!! We were going to do our home for the first time this year and decided the only way we could do it safely was to hire a company to do it. Forget that!!! I’m heading to the hardware store TODAY (it’s not even Thanksgiving yet) to get my supplies. I’m still concerned about having to place those top hooks for the starting point so we’ll see how this goes.
I am Hanging mine today 🙂 I figure it’s not raining here in the hinterlands so why not>.
Steve
Steve is a GENIUS! My hubby is thrilled with this idea! Thanx for sharing.
Thank you Kater, Let me know how it turns out.
Steve
Hi there:)
We loved this idea so much that we tried it today. Worked great!
Thanks for sharing?
Thanks for letting me know. I hung mine last week, I know it was a bit early but, now I can Smoke the turkey and not think about getting done.
Steve, How about posting an “after” photo of the finished lights in the dark?
Hi, this is Michelle since Steve is away from a computer right now. He actually posted this last year, and I am not sure we have a photo of the whole display from then. He has the ones pictured here up, but he still has some more to do before this year is finished, but we will post a photo when he is done this year.
Very cool idea, but I am not sure my wife would like those big hooks up on the roof line all year around. Also, getting to the peak of the roof to install the top hook scares the heck out of me.
Hi, this is Michelle. I never notice the hooks unless I am looking for them, but how visible they are would depend on your roof and angles, shadows, etc. And, yep, you do have to get them up there, but at least it is a one time thing and not something you have to do every year.
I just put my Christmas lights up 2 days ago, I wish I would have seen this sooner.
What a fantastic idea! I think I’ll use this on my house this year. Thanks for sharing 🙂
This is absolutely genius!!!
A fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing it. It will make my holiday decorating MUCH easier in years to come.
Wow Steve, how proud your wife must be of you and your home looks beautiful. I only wish i would have seen this last month. We didn’t have the energy or physical capability to get up on our third story so no lights this year. I can’t wait to show this with my husband tonight. Thanks so much for sharing and Happy New Year to you both. Diena
love this idea! My concern is getting the one hook on the top of the roof line! Our roof is too steep to climb and not sure we have a ladder that tall~ hmmm if we can figure that out may be giving it a shot! Thank you! I love the Christmas lights, and your house looks amazing!
We totally used this idea with PVC pipe this! Slightly different technique given that we were using smaller lights and we could not get up to the peak of the roof due to a shorter-than-necessary ladder. We ended up suspending each PVC pipe by 6 in. of rope in two places as high as we could get and pushing the opposite end of the pipe in place against the house so it (hopefully) won’t move during bad weather. Thank you for helping us brainstorm! I really wasn’t sure we’d get lights on this house.