As the winter months approach, families and neighborhoods light up with decor, but physically adorning your home comes with risks and it’s important to remember these safety tips for holiday roof decorations.
The Christmas season is here, and you want to get decorating your home inside and out. Nothing is better than a home that’s been decorated to look like a winter wonderland. Hoping to put some decorations on the outside of your home, including the roof? Follow these safety tips for holiday roof decorations to ensure you keep your roof, and yourself, safe this festive season.
1. Be Mindful Of The Elements
It’s winter, and that means the weather isn’t going to be ideal. Your decorations should be up to the challenge, as long as you’ve bought them from reputable sellers and are using decorations designed to be outdoors. If you don’t install them carefully though, the weather can actually cause damage to your roof.
When you put the decorations up, ensure that you’re securing them properly. Attach lights to guttering with clips, and use wires on the roof to secure everything in place. If you don’t and strong winds come, you’ll find that they can get knocked down, damaging the roof.
2. Take Your Time With Decorations
You’re excited about getting the decorations up, and you want them on your roof as soon as possible. That’s understandable, but you need to take your time while both putting them up and taking them down. If you don’t, you risk damage to the roof and injury to yourself.
When putting the decorations up, climb up onto the roof itself and then pull the decorations up with a rope. Going up the ladder with the decorations can be dangerous as you’ll be off balance. Having someone on the ground to help you is essential, too.
When you’re taking the decorations down, take your time. Remove clips and wires slowly and methodically. Doing this means you won’t damage your roofing shingles by ripping them out, and you won’t have to replace them.
3. Plan Ahead
If you’re thinking of putting decorations on the roof this year, plan ahead. It’s much easier and safer to put holiday roof decorations up if you already have a plan in place. Ensure you have the right equipment, like a ladder that’s the right length, and sturdy boots that will help you keep your balance on the roof. Pick a time when you’ll have plenty of time to get the decorations up, so you won’t have to rush.
Also plan to clear your roof of debris before you start putting decorations up. Leaves and other debris allow moisture to collect, so putting decorations on top of that is asking for trouble. Ensure your roof is clear before you set to work decorating it.
4. Only Use Top Quality Electricals
Lights are a huge part of holiday decorations. They give your home that magical sparkle that makes it stand out during the festive season. As you’re using electricals though, you’ve got to be mindful about safety. Bad quality electricals are capable of shorting out and even starting fires. On your roof, that has the potential to be devastating.
When buying lights for your roof, ensure that you’re only buying the best ones available.
- Check to see if they’re fire rated, as many are.
- They also should be specifically outdoor lights, as these are designed to handle the snowy weather.
When you put them up, be mindful not to nail them to shingles. This can attract moisture, which is dangerous. Instead, use clips on the guttering as described above.
When planning out your lights, be aware that you can overburden electrical outlets with them, just like you can indoors. Only use as many lights as you can safely use. If you can, spread out where the lights are plugged in, to keep your home safe.
5. Use The Right Holiday Roof Decorations
There are some decorations that aren’t suitable for use on your roof. Make sure you’re picking the right objects to keep the roof safe this year.
Inflatable decorations are a big hit, as they’re easy to set up and make a big impact. However, they’re not suitable for your roof. They can easily overburden your roof, creating damage that you’ll have to have addressed in the new year.
When selecting holiday roof decorations, find items that are designed to sit on your roof. This ensures that they’ll be safe, and you won’t have to worry about any damage.
6. Have Someone With You When Decorating
This has been mentioned earlier, but it’s hard to express how important this is. When you’re decorating your roof, you should never do it alone. Having a second person on the ground is vital to the process. They can hand items up to you if needed, ans spot you while you’re on the ladder.
If you’re decorating, don’t do it alone. Have that second person there to help you. This stops you having to do dangerous things, such as walking up the ladder with heavy items.
7. Avoid Staples And Screws
You want your holiday roof decorations to be stable, so you’re tempted to use things like staples and screws to hold them down. They certainly won’t move if you use them, but these will actually damage your roof if you use them. At best, you’ll need to replace a few shingles, and if you’re unlucky you may need to replace a whole section of roof.
It’s much better to use items designed for roof decorations, such as clips and wires. Your local hardware store will have items like these, so ask if you’re uncertain.
8. Test Decorations Before You Use Them
Finally, before you go ahead and use any roof decorations, test them first. This is important for anything that lights up. If there’s damage to them, you may find that some of the lights are dimmer, not giving you the look you were going for.
If you’re unlucky, the damaged lights could short out the whole thing, posing a risk to your roof. It’s much better know this while you’re still on the ground, so test those decorations before you haul them up onto the roof.
Follow these safety tips, and your roof will look amazing and be safe this Christmas.
