1. (NU) - Let there be lights!
Christmas lights, that is. And
if the timing of when some
homeowners started hanging
them this year is any measure –
as early as mid-October – we’re
really, really anxious for some
holiday cheer.
Most of you will opt for rela-
tively understated displays. Oth-
ers will try to outdo neighbors by
creating winter wonderland scenes
so dazzlingly bright that aliens (as-
suming they’re out there) can see
them from galaxies away.
“When I pass a suburban
house festooned with twinkly,
colored fairy lights, I always
scream ‘Bravo’ out of the win-
dow of my car,” Simon Doonan,
creative ambassador of Barneys
New York, has admitted.
Whichever, here are some
safety tips to keep in mind:
• Never hang lights from
your roof’s shingles. “Making
even the tiniest of holes in them
or any roof component -- even
with a stapler -- will let moisture
or leaks in, and potentially rot the
roof,” says Jason Joplin, program
manager of the Center for theAd-
vancement of Roofing Excel-
lence. Instead, use clips that hang
from the gutter or eaves.
• Metallic trees require spe-
cial care. Gee, what could pos-
sibly go wrong by hanging elec-
tric lights on them? “The tree
can become charged with elec-
tricity from faulty lights,” warns
the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission, “and any
person touching a branch could
be electrocuted.” Colored spot-
lights, above or beside them, are
the way to go.
• Embrace the buddy system.
Maybe they were all drinking
spiked egg nog, but one oft-
quoted study by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
found that 6,000 people wind up
in emergency rooms annually
just from holiday decorating-re-
lated falls. As most of the in-
jured are men and most fall from
ladders, let’s all say it together:
“Asking someone to hold the
ladder for you, whether you’re
stringing lights on a roof or a
tall tree, isn’t wussy.”
• Don’t Let ‘er Rip: Even
worse than being that one house on
the block that never gets around
to taking down decorations till
spring is this: disassembling by
haphazardly pulling lights off your
roof from the cord. “You risk dam-
aging the gutter that way,” says
Joplin, “and potentially the shin-
gle if you didn’t clip it correctly to
begin with.”
Especially if you are plan-
ning elaborate displays, you
might want to consider hiring
a pro. GAF (gaf.com), North
America's largest roofing man-
ufacturer, makes it easy to find
the most reputable (and insured)
ones in your area by searching
its website's GAF Master Elite
Contractor database.
Oh, and if you’re truly into
wowing others beyond your im-
mediate street -- no, probably not
E.T.s -- it’s best to stagger two
sets of lights side by side to in-
crease the density.
AHomeowner’s Guide to
Hanging Holiday Lights
HOLIDAYS
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