There’s no better feeling than seeing beautiful lights during the festive season of Christmas. You pass through driveaways, markets, and houses in the neighbourhood, and you see decorations that hook your gaze.

 

If you want people to admire your house decorations during this season, there’s one thing you should master: decorating roofs and gutters. Since these parts of your house are directly visible to the passerby and neighbours, it makes sense to give it special attention.

 

To help you with that, we’re listing our top tips for decorating roofs and gutters.

11 Tips for Decorating Roof and Gutters

Tip 1. Check out Your Roof and Gutters

Before you begin decorating, simply go out and check out your roof and gutter. And we mean, really look at it from different angles and measure its size with a measuring tape. 

This closer inspection will give you an idea about the number of Christmas lights required and prevent any last-minute hassle.

Also, make sure your guttering is intact - not leaking, blocker or cracked. You can also draw a map on paper to visualize the decorations you’re going to put up.

Tip 2. Create a General Style 

Take a look at your house from afar and decide what’ll be the focal point of your decorations. A typical layout people use generally makes the porch, columns and gutter sidelines with bright lights and go faded on roofs. 

Here are few roof decoration styles that you can try:

• White LED Lights: Nothing beats the classic white. There are two types of white LED lights available: warm white and cool white. Furthermore, LEDs use up to 90% less energy compared to old-age incandescent lights.

• Colour Duo: There are Christmas lights with alternating bulb colours such as red and green, green and blue, and red and white. These colour duos are trendy among the masses.

• Combine Type of Lights: You can combine two lights to give a different look to your decorations. For example, put C9 bulbs lights on roofs and hang icicle lights from gutters to provide a layered look.

Tip 3. Types of Lights

Make sure you use lights rated for outdoor usage only. Use the following Christmas lights for a perfect roof and gutter decoration:

• LED Strip Lights: These lights are perhaps the most convenient - just remove the adhesive backing and stick on the hard surface of roofs and gutters, and they’re ready to use. However, they’re not the most reliable ones!

• LED String Lights: C7 and C9 LED string lights are popular lights for roofs. Due to their larger size and more presence, they give more visibility when viewed from a distance. You can combine them with other types of lights listed below.

• Cascade Light Tubes & Falling Icicles: Not very popular but the illusionary motion created by cascade light tubes and falling icicles lights makes it worth checking out. And one big reason is that it’ll draw more attention. These lights fit into C7 and C9 pockets.

• Icicle Lights: Icicle lights are the choice of the majority due to their beautiful display. And you can hang them on windows, railings other than roofs, and awnings. They are available in white as well as in various colour combinations.

It’s necessary to choose the right type of lights depending upon your requirements. For example, most LED lights can connect up to 25 to make a string of lights. Contrarily, incandescent lights can only form a row of up to 3 to 6 lights.

C7 or C9 light bulbs and icicle lights are generally for gutters and roofs. 

Also, for the areas where your focus point will be, use denser lights; lights with less distance between bulbs produce brighter colours at night.

Next, lights with green colour wires (or any dark colour for that matter) go well on trees, bushes, fences, and grass. You can put lights with white, yellow, or any lighter colour wires for the roof and gutter.

Lastly, make sure you get lights of similar types. Believe it or not, even the same colour light from different brands produces different kinds of lighting. To avoid inconsistency in your roof and gutter decorations, make sure you buy the same lights for particular areas.

Tip 4. Gather All The Equipment

After assessing everything about the roof and gutter, it’s time to get the equipment to install these lights. Make sure you’ve measured all the lengths:

• Length of straight lines on roof and gutters,
• Distance from power supply/point.

Put lights of the same colour, clips, and extension cords (if any) in a separate cardboard box to stay organized. You can also buy a lighting timer that’ll cut off the electricity at dawn.

Tip 5. Check Lights Before You Hang

Yes, all your hustle can go in vain if you find out that the lights hung up aren’t lightning. However dumb this may sound, it’s a brilliant idea to check all the lights and power points are working or not before you put them up for use!

Tip 6. Use a Ladder

The next tip is just as simple as the previous one and yet very crucial. Don’t go over your roof to secure the decorations. Always use a ladder on stubborn support. Otherwise, you may well damage your roof walls and gutterings.

Moreover, using a ladder is safe and prevents the unnecessary risk of getting hurt from falling from the roof. Keep in mind that you should use a ladder with firm walls and a person on the ground.

Tip 7. Fasten Your Decorations

You don’t want fast winds or bad weather conditions to destroy your decorations causing damage to both — your lights and hard work done decorating them.

Further, proper fastening also ensures you don’t dig a hole in your roof where it’s unnecessary. You don’t need to go hard with nails or sandbags — we don’t advise using nails at all as they’re too dangerous.

You can fasten your decorations easily using clips attached from gutters or safe eye bolts. If you’re using gutter guards, you can use adhesive hooks to hang lights from gutters.

Few types of fasteners that you should consider are:

• All in One Clip: These clips are the most popular for decorating rooflines and gutters. They come in various sizes depending upon the tile width of your roof and are a perfect fit for C7, C9 LED lights.

• Shingle Clips: As the name suggests, these types of clips are best suited for shingled roofs. They are compatible with C7 and C9 bulbs.

• Magnetic Clips: These clips are best suited for decorations on iron surfaces, for example, on a gutter leaf. The clips have a magnet to hook and are compatible with C9, C7, and mini lights.

Tip 8. Avoid Damage & Provide Lights Support

To prevent damage to both your house’s roof and gutter, make sure you follow this tip. Don’t use nails to provide support to lights. Firstly, they’re metal bodies and let electricity pass from loose wires, which can cause fatalities.

Secondly, nails can cause unwanted holes in your roof walls and gutter, turning into pain after festivities. 

You can use zip ties, clips (various types based on usage and size) or sandbags to provide support. The safest and secure are clips.

Tip 9. Make Sure Wires Don’t Run Through Gutters

You don’t have to worry if you’re using gutter guards (or leaf screens) but if not, kindly make sure that lights wires do not go through gutters as they may accumulate water and cause a safety hazard.

We recommend using gutter hooks/clips to secure your fairy or rope lights onto gutters.

Tip 10. Don’t Work Alone

It is the numero uno mistake people make. While we’re excited to make our house look dazzling with Christmas lights as fast as we can, it’s not okay to disregard this straightforward advice. Don’t work alone.

Yes, you need ground assistance and a partner who can synchronize with you to achieve the lighting of your wildest dreams. Without them, you’re likely to get exhausted, frustrated or even worse, injured.

Ask someone to help you — your spouse, kid, or neighbour.

Tip 11. Safety From Fire

Fire is the last thing we want for our Christmas decorations. Therefore, it’s critical to stay one step ahead and remove all the potential triggers that can cause a fire.

For example, start with debris in your gutter. Remove dried leaves, twigs or any unwanted item from the guttering.

Also, make sure you don’t put on inflatables on roofs as they’re prone to cause fire or get lost with the fast winds.

Examine your wires twice for any cuts and make sure you use good quality lighting. Lastly, make sure the power supply has an auto-cut system in case of any irregular voltage or current in the wires.

FAQs

Can you hang Christmas lights on gutters?
Yes, you can hang Christmas lights. However, make sure lights aren’t too heavy, are appropriately clipped, and don’t run through gutters to prevent any potential harm.

How do you hang Christmas lights on a roof without gutters?
There are roof clips available to hang the Christmas lights on a roof without gutters.

How do you hang Christmas lights outside without nails?
If your house has a gutter, use gutter clips to hang out the Christmas lights. Otherwise, you can use roof clips or adhesive clips instead of nails