5Ws+1H: How It's Done: Christmas lights should be hung with caution

Dec. 8—With the holiday season underway, Christmas lights are being hung, but homeowners should remain cautious when decorating with light displays.

Trent Nelson, owner of Nelson's Lawn Care, said his business has helped install Christmas lights for 10 years. This service normally starts the last week of October and goes until the first week in December.

His main piece of advice for someone wanting to decorate on their own is to take their time and to be safe.

"Know your limits. If it's too steep for you, call somebody who can come out there and hang them for you," said Nelson.

For decorating a steep roof, Nelson said, extra precautions should be taken, even if it takes longer to complete the task.

When hanging lights, a simple and safe way to stay out of trouble is to avoid standing on a wet roof and using cushions. He said the cushion grips onto the shingles while a person sits on it, preventing a catastrophic slide off a roof.

Nelson's Lawn Care hangs a lot of the decorations by using different types of ladders.

"Some ladders go on top of peaks, and then there's just your regular ladders you can use from the ground and reach up," said Nelson.

For beginners, he recommends using a regular extension ladder. A ladder stabilizer can also be used to help make the structure more secure, as it attaches to the top of a ladder and grips onto the roof.

"It just keeps the ladder off the roof. That stabilizer has two ends to it so it goes up on the roof itself or the house, and doesn't poke holes or tear anything up," said Nelson.

Nelson Lawn Care normally decorates houses by hand, but Nelson said poles can be bought that grab onto a clip and can then be pushed onto the gutter or shingles.

One of the most common mistakes Nelson sees is people plugging in too many lights in one outlet. This can often trip a breaker in the house, so to prevent this, the package label should be read to determine how many strands can be used on each outlet.

After the conclusion of the holiday season and lights start to come down, Nelson recommends lights to be stored in a labeled plastic tote with a lid to ensure no animals or insects get in and disrupts the contents of the box.