Don’t Damage Your Roof Hanging Holiday Decorations in Grand Rapids
It’s that time of year again. When mistletoe hangs in doorways and Christmas lights shine up and down the local neighborhood streets here in Grand Rapids Michigan. Decoration your home is a tradition for many home owners here in Grand Rapids. Stringing lights and inflatables up around the home and on the roof are common but there can be dangers to adding decorations to your home’s roof. In this article I’ll go over some of the problems that you’ll want to avoid when adding lights and decorations to your home in Grand Rapids Michigan.
Don’t Damage Your Roof Hanging Holiday Decorations in Grand Rapids
Your home’s roof can be damaged if you don’t take precautions when hanging any sort of decorations. That doesn’t mean you can’t spread your holiday cheer by hanging the decorations but it does mean that you’ll need to know some key points when doing so. Damaging your roof can lead to a water leak in your home and cause all sorts of damage. Then you’ll need water damage restoration in Grand Rapids MI just to get things back to normal. The following items are in no specific order but all are extremely important when hanging any sort of holiday decorations on your home’s roof in Grand Rapids Michigan.
Don’t Nail Through Shingles or Metal Roofing to Attach Decorations
One of the biggest problems with attaching items to the roof is doing so without damaging the existing shingles or metal roofing. Putting nails or screws through the roofing surface is certainly not recommended. When the nails or screws are removed later it will likely develop into a roof leak. You’ll also want to avoid attaching any lights the the shingles themselves by wrapping them around the shingle. There are solutions that you can use that is not damaging to the shingles in the form of clips or even double sided tape. For stringing lights completely across the roof you may want to use twine to guide and secure the lights without attaching them to the shingles.
Don’t Attach to Items that Are Damaged Easily
Inflatable decorations have recently became very popular. And it seems that they get larger and larger each and every year. If you plan on using inflatables on your home’s roof you’ll need to make sure it is not attached to something that can be damaged. Chimney vents are usually not made well enough to support an inflatable. It may work initially but when a strong wind comes along you may loose parts of your home’s chimney vents. Roof ventilation pipes can be pulled and sometimes broken seals can occur as well. Sometimes it’s best to use sand bags on the roof to hold the inflatable down during strong winds or storms.
Don’t Just Pull the Decorations Down
After the holidays have past and you’re ready to remove the decorations, standing on the ground and pulling the strings of lights down can damage your home’s roof. The string of lights can get wrapped around a shingle tab and break it. What’s even worse is that it may not even be visible at first. Then later it can develop into a roof leak which can damage the interior of your Grand Rapids home. If you use twine or string to attach the lights to the roof you’ll want to avoid pulling this down as well.
Watch for Power Lines
There are many dangers of going onto your home’s roof. A slip and fall can seriously injure or even kill you. But that’s not the only threat while you’re on the roof. Power lines are sometime within reach from the rooftop and you can be electrocuted. Watch for any power lines and make sure you don’t attach any decorations to areas around power supplies or power lines to the home.
There are many dangers of going onto your home’s roof. A slip and fall can seriously injure or even kill you. But that’s not the only threat while you’re on the roof.
Bring a Friend
It’s always best to have a friend help you when adding decorations to your home. They can help look for problems and in case there is an emergency they can get help.
Call a Professional Roofing Contractor to Help
If you’re hesitant of adding holiday decorations to your home yourself be sure to contact a Grand Rapids roofing contractor to help. You may need to pay for adding the decorations to your home but at least you’ll know it’s done correctly and you’ll stay safe.
