Every year homeowners all over Australia decorate their houses with magical Christmas lights and decorations. In some suburbs, neighbours unite to transform their entire street into a glowing Christmas wonderland. There are some streets with over 10,000 lights on a home, along with synchronised musical displays and extravagant front yard decorations!
Christmas lights really are a beautiful sight to enjoy in the summer evenings leading up to and following Christmas. People of all ages love to jump into the car to drive around the nearest suburbs searching for the best displays.
But did you know that having these lights hanging from your gutters is a hazard in many ways?
There are many risks associated with outdoor Christmas lights — ladder falls frequently occur when climbing up to hang the lights, the lights pose a major fire hazard, and there's the risk of electrical shock. Needless to say, you should be careful when planning your Christmas light installation.
Besides these risks, if you have gutter guards installed in your gutters, we recommend thinking twice before trying to attach any Christmas lights over your gutters.
Light Clips for Gutter Guards: Friend or Foe?
There are generally two types of products advertised to make installing tights on gutters easy.
One is a 'gutter guard clip' or 'leaf guard light clip' that attaches to the edge of the gutter like a peg on a clothesline. The second is referred to as a 'gutter hook' or 'Christmas hook for gutters', which is supposed to be inserted directly through the gutter guard mesh. And yes, these product names are misnomers: the gutter guard clip actually attaches to the gutter, whereas the gutter hook attaches to the gutter guard.
The Trouble with Christmas Light Hangers for Gutter Guards
Either way, these products risk damaging your guttering and gutter guard system.
Plastic gutter guard clips may seem harmless, but they can easily leave scratch marks on the gutters, removing the top layer of paint. And depending on the design of the clip, your gutter mesh may be warped out of shape when the clip is attached to the guttering.
With metal gutter hooks, you need to poke the hooks through the holes in the gutter guard, which will obviously damage the gutter mesh, especially if the apertures in the mesh are small (our bushfire gutter guard has 2mm apertures).
Note also, that installation of Christmas lights and fittings over your gutters using hooks and clips may void the warranty on your gutter guard and protection systems!
Light Up... Safely
When it comes to decorating your home each year with Christmas lights, we certainly don't want to be killjoys, but our advice is to avoid doing anything that might damage your gutters and gutter guards. A great alternative to installing lights on your roof is to set up displays in your front yard — we've seen some fantastic examples around Melbourne in recent years, with trees, snowmen, full-size Santa sleigh and reindeer, and more!
