Hanging Christmas Lights

Hanging Christmas lights this season? Here's a few helpful hints on how to hang lights and protect your shingles.

The best way to hang holiday lights is by stringing them through plastic clips attached to your shingles, gutters and eaves. Plastic clips designed for use with holiday lights are easy to install and remove, affordable and readily available at most home improvement or large retail stores.

Using plastic clips instead of traditional nails or staples will prevent you from puncturing your shingles or gutters; even the tiniest hole in a shingle can allow moisture to seep in and potentially damage the roof. Using nails or staples can also puncture the wires of your lights, or wear down their insulating coating, potentially causing electrical problems.

A good question to consider while implementing your holiday decoration plan is, “Would Clark Griswold do this?” Generally, if the answer is yes, do not proceed—especially when it comes to stapling lights to your roof.

Merry Christmas and stay safe!