As Halloween approaches, many homeowners are getting ready to transform their homes into a forest where bats and witches hang out, a scary Dracula’s castle, or a spooky haunted house. These useful tips will help you safely decorate your home’s exterior while creating the perfect atmosphere to welcome trick-or-treaters.
Before Decorating Your Home’s Exterior
Have a plan and know where the Halloween lights and decorations will be installed. Before decorating your home exterior, do some prep work. Sweep away any debris from off the roof. Remove debris from inside the gutter channel and make the outside sparkle. Clean the siding with a solution of mild detergent and warm water.
Choose Lightweight Decorations
While large inflatables, bony skeletons, witches on broomsticks, and impressive lights for the ultimate in spooky effects might look impressive, they can add extra weight to your roof and gutters, and damage siding and roofing shingles. Choose lightweight decorations such as ghosts, witches, pumpkins, and bats, made from foam, fabric, or plastic. Go the extra mile and select decorations that won’t scratch aluminum gutters or metal siding.
No Piercings
Use fasteners that won’t puncture gutters, roofing shingles, or siding. Wherever possible, substitute nails, screws, staples, and tacks for zip ties, cable ties, adhesive-backed hooks, gutter clips, and light clips for lights/decorations to be attached to siding, the roof, and gutters. Piercing or puncturing the surface of the roof, siding, gutters, or downspouts, no matter how small the nail or tack, can allow in moisture, leading to mold growth and leaks.
When using fasteners, clips, or hooks, check the manufacturer’s information to see if the product is designed specifically for hanging lights or decorations and if there are any weight restrictions. Make sure they can be attached to gutters, the roof, or siding without damage.
Decorating the Roof
What is your roof made of? Asphalt shingles are a durable roofing material, but can be prone to damage by impact. Clay and slate roofs are susceptible to damage from heavy objects sitting in one place for extended periods of time.
Distribute the weight of inflatables evenly. Avoid skeletons, figures, or other types of decorations that create pressure points on specific areas of the roof that can weaken its structure.
Limit the number of inflatables installed on the roof.
Look up the long-term weather forecast for the Halloween and several days before and after. Keep your eye on the roof during the days heavy rain, strong winds, or a combination of both are expected. After a weather event, check to see if everything is still attached.
Decorating the Gutters
Should it rain while Halloween decorations are spooking your house, ensure that they won’t obstruct runoff as it flows through the gutters and out of the downspouts.
Keep electric cords from dangling into the gutters; extension cords should have as direct a path as possible to the outlet or power bar – no twisting or being looped around downspouts.
Fake webs and spooky banners are popular ways to decorate the gutters. However, even if they are made of synthetic materials and are water-repellant, they can collect water, becoming heavy and stressing the gutter system.
Decorating the Siding
Secure decorations to avoid flapping or tearing with double-sided tape or painter’s tape folded to make contact with the siding and the decoration.
Use suction cups if you’re not sure what type hook or fastener you should use on your siding.
Install large decorations or complex decorations as focal points. The siding can look too “busy” or crowded when there are too many.
