Next year and how to stay in the wife's good graces

[tjbrickner]

I've hung all of my lights for the year and managed not to put any extra holes in the house.  I only have 16 strings so it wasn't too bad.  Next year I plan to be at 48 strings and while they all may not be on the house there will definitely be more than this year.  My question is how to avoid drilling holes in to metal siding so the Mrs. won't put a hole in my head?

Or if holes are my only option how does everyone cover them up during the off season.

[jnealand]

First you might want to tell us what you are doing that would require making holes in the house.  Gutters, window frames, other eaves etc are all different beasts.  I have never had a need to put holes in the siding, but I do have cup hooks permanently screwed into my fascia boards behind the gutters and hooks around my windows and doors.

[kernal]

+1   cup hooks are very inexpensive and most dont even notice.  I do put silicone around the base to help prevent water seeping in.

[tjbrickner]

Sorry Jim.  I do have a large piece of open real estate on the front of the house that would be good for some type of display, but I don't know what yet.  I've found hooks that are made to hook behind siding but I'm not sure if that'll work.

[taybrynn]

More detail and pictures would be helpful also.

[kernal]

Tj, could you build it (or whatever it is your wanting to do) from the ground up?  Build a base out of pvc and have it stand on that.  Just a thought. 

[arw01]

I just dealt with that on my aluminum siding. I was able to use a skinny painters "knife" could not find my skinny pry bar, and slip regular "roof and gutter" clips up under the siding and plan to anchor to those.  After the show they will pop right out.

For my soffits, I found a screw in ziptie holder that is a square pad with a screw hole in the middle.  There are slots on all four sides to slip a small zip tie through.  I screwed those every 2' to the soffit with a #8 3/4" screw and will ziptie the pex tubing to those. They hopefully will be close enough together to keep the pex pretty darn straight.

[tjbrickner]

Sorry, getting harder to get home before the sunlight goes away.  Here's a pic of the house.  You'll notice the taller part with the big blank area.  That's probably the spot where I'd have to do something creative.

It's steel siding though so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to pry.  I'll try to find a hidden spot and see if it gives any.  Between the zip tie mounts and the cup hooks, that sounds like my best bet  if I do anything more to the top part.

Edit: And I know the house looks Christmas-y with the green siding and red roof.  I get to paint next year hahaha

[onesmoothhead]

I know this will sound weird. If it is steal siding I would try magnets on the back of the zip tie clips. I used those on my last house and it worked perfect. No scratching, drooping or falling.  No issues at all with wind and rain. I had them placed ever 4 feet. Just an idea.



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[jnealand]

I might be tempted to put a couple of long boards or pipe from the ground to the fascia at the roof and make a frame of some kind.  That could also be an element that you could just make in one piece and store it all together depending on how much space you have.  Who says it has to be attached to the siding.

[tjbrickner]

............... Why i didn't think of that, I have no idea.  There has to be magnetic hooks somewhere on the interwebs.  Thanks for all the help everyone.  Unless anyone else has some more ideas I think I can make things work with what was suggested.

That would probably be a good idea too Jim.  Especially if I put up some smart strings next year.

[zwiller]

I danced around the no holes thing for years and 2 years ago I caved and love it.  Takes longer to drag out the ladder than to hang my elements.  The reality is that because it is faster it is also safer too when dealing with 2nd story or roof.  Wifey agrees with me that no one can see the hardware rest of the year... 

FWIW Eyelets on fascia and hooks on wood frame with lights.  Upside down pipe hangers used on gutters.  Detail can be found here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

It did take plenty of time (and beer) to design and build it, but in the end it was well worth it to me.

[arw01]

I don't know about hooks persay, but You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login has fabulous selection of magnets with holes in them. You could use a bolt instead of a screw, or maybe a cleavis pin with holes through it and then use split rings or small carbiner clips to attach too.  They have some big magnets too 

  to the one that thought of the magnets first!

[MazdaFan]

First thing that ran through my mind when I saw the picture is that if you want a 180* megatree... thats the spot.  Clamp a bracket to the roof/facia, run your strings down (semi-circle or a flat layout).  It decorates that part of the house and leaves your yard open for arches, candy canes, fire poles, etc.

Jamie

[tjbrickner]

Haha.  Would love to be doing that Mazda.  Still finishing 2 more LE builds and then waiting for the after Christmas sales to buy those lights.  I might be waiting till next year to get into the smart/dumb string world.