Homes: Christmas light options for your house

Avoid Clark Griswold missteps with a design plan.

image credit: Contributed

Its that time of year again when we patiently wait for a break in the rain so we can scamper out and put up our Christmas lights before the wet stuff returns.

And with the seemingly wider array of Christmas lighting and decoration options every year, its no wonder Christmas light installation services are flourishing on the Internet.

For the uninitiated, or those needing assistance, there is Christmas-light installation help from high-end, design-and-build services, to companies that will put your lights up, to a guy on Craigslist who will put your own lights up for a fee.

But for old-fashioned Christmas enthusiasts, putting up the lights can sometimes be as much a part of the holidays, and as rewarding, as appreciating the finished product when its all done.

Chevy Chase and National Lampoon picked up on this holiday phenomenon and ran with it in 1989s Christmas Vacation. Theres a little bit of Clark Griswold, and his Christmas-light obsession, in all Christmas light enthusiasts.

So to avoid some of Clark Griswolds missteps, experts in this field suggest that during these rainy November days we prepare and plan for the next non-rainy weekend.

Before starting, its suggested weekend installers step back and develop an overall game plan instead of just winging it. This could actually help reduce how wet you get if you find theres no appropriately timed weather window and you have to put up Christmas lights in the rain.

Pick a focal point, such as the frame of your entryway, as the place youll want to start. Consider surfaces, gutter thickness and shingle flexibility to best determine how to hang lights along the roofline.

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Homes: Christmas light options for your house