Of course, you’d like to make a good first impression if you’re the one hosting a house party. Thinking of how you can prepare your home exterior for your holiday guests? Here are some tips you can do:

Give your house a New Coat

People are not the only ones in need of new coats during the cold season, your house too. Spruce up your walls and entryway with a fresh coat of exterior paint all the way through the front door. While you’re at it, repaint the trim if it’s starting to look weathered as well.

Clear the clutter

Nobody likes a messy front yard. Make a good first impression by clearing your porch, deck, and yard. Keep all machines, toys, and other litter that can make your home’s façade look like a complete chaos. Moreover, sweep leaves and other debris away from the entrance. Trim trees and landscape the bushes just enough to make it clean and pleasant looking.

Light up!

Provide ample lighting at the exterior of your house. This is not only to give your home a jollier and festive ambiance, it will also help keep the safety of your guests and friends. Make sure your outdoor lights work and de-ice the path to your door if necessary to reduce the chance of slips, falls, and other accidents that might result to a disaster. While you’re at it, why not install motion-activated night lights in hallways and pathways to ensure safe passage after dark?

Decorate your house without ruining your exterior

Of course you can’t prepare your home for the holidays without putting up a few decorations here and there. But you have to be extra careful. Without proper supplies and planning, you can easily puncture gutters, soffit, and even siding. While it may look simple and harmless, these damages can potentially become severe over time, leading to unexpected replacement costs, increased energy bills, and even water damage from faulty gutters.

To make sure you can prepare your home for the festivities without creating leeway for structural damage, why not ditch the nails and keep your staple gun away from your walls this year and just go for heavy duty and reliable hooks. If you need something that will keep your Christmas lights, wreaths, and other decorations hanging in place, buy some removable hooks that can carry the weight of it.

You can also utilize zip ties to hang garlands, lights, and other Christmas decorations for your walls or your doors, or tracing the outlines of your windows. And with a simple pull and remove them after the first of the year with a quick cut from scissors.

While you’re preparing your home for holiday guests, you may notice damage along the way. You are likely never as up close and personal with your home’s siding, gutters, soffit, and fascia as you are during your holiday light decoration process. Maybe you’d spot holes on the gutter, or protruding sidings. This is also a nice time to call your home exterior contractor and have it inspected and repaired before it becomes a much bigger problem, making you spend more.

SOURCES:

• https://www.lowes.com/cd_Prepare+Your+Home+for+Holiday+Guests_523722158_
• https://www.realtor.com/advice/home-improvement/guest-proof-home-holidays/
• https://www.houselogic.com/organize-maintain/home-maintenance-tips/tips-how-prepare-your-home-holiday-guests/

Follow the instructions

When it comes to outdoor electronics, it’s important that the manufacturer’s directions for installation be followed. Never string more than 3 standard-size sets of lights together – doing so could cause a fuse to break or an electrical fire to start. Generally speaking, incandescent lights can typically only connect 3 to 6 strands. If you’re using LED lighting, you can connect up to twenty-five strands together.

Conduct a light test

Before installing any exterior lighting, check to make sure that all of the bulbs are intact. If a bulb is burnt out, replace it immediately. No matter what the voltage is, it’s best practice to replace bulbs that don’t work. If none of the lights work when you plug them in, check for fuses that might have blown and replace them immediately. Always plug exterior, electrical holiday decor into GFCI outlets. These Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters help prevent shock. In the event that the outlet comes into contact with water, electrical power to the outlet is cut off, preventing damage. Keep in mind when decorating indoors that surge protectors should be used to avoid issues with overloading circuits.

Save on electricity

Use a timer on your indoor and outdoor holiday decor. Doing so gives you full control of when your decorations turn on and off. You’ll never have to worry about your decorations staying on longer than they should be, whether you’re home or not!

Hang or mount lighting properly

Doing so will ensure you prevent damage to your holiday lights and be able to use them in the years to come. If you’re mounting lighting to your gutters or roof, use plastic hooks that are specially designed to hang lights without damaging your home.

Measure the distance to the power source

The last thing you want is to string all lighting to your house only to find that you can’t plug them in. To avoid issues, measure the areas where you want to install lights as well as the distance these locations are from a power source. This way, when you’re installing, you know how much slack you’ll need to leave yourself to plug them in.

Properly set your ladder up

Standard home eaves require the use of an extension ladder to install holiday lighting. If your home has low eaves, you might be able to get away with using a step ladder. No matter what kind of ladder you’re using, make sure it is planted firmly on the ground prior to climbing. Lean it at a safe angle against your home that will allow you to climb without slipping. When leaning a ladder against your gutter, place a 2×4 in the gutter first to reinforce it. If you’re terrified of heights, hanging poles are going to become your new best friend this holiday season. They’re long poles that you can attach lighting to, making it easy to install string lights to trees, tall bushes, and lower gutters.

These exterior holiday decorating tips will help you get your home decorated safely in no time! To make decorating even simpler, trust the experts at A1 Dayton Electric, a professional Bucks County Christmas light installation company.