D Felix
11-11-2004, 12:49 AM
I've been meaning to start a thread on this for a while, and just haven't gotten to it until now. Hope it's not too late to help someone!
We decorate several (around 15) sites starting about a week before Thanksgiving. It usually takes about 6-7 straight days to get everything done. Most of the clients want the lights to be on the day after Turkey day, which requires advance installation.:)
We decorate several banks, most of them have similar features. Most houses have similiar features to the banks we decorate, so it's just a matter of adapting the process to fit the site.
Generally we run natural white pine garland/roping along the eaves (I guess it's not the eaves, but I don't know what it is called; it's where the brick changes to wood under the eaves....). This roping is zip-tied to eye screws that have been installed in previous years. We run roping around any columns at the front entrance. Usually there is four colums; the two on the left are run opposite direction from the two on the right.
Lights are then run with any of the roping. At a minimum, the lights are doubled anywhere there is roping. Some areas recieve triple lights, just because that is how it works out at the end of the strand. We've found out that you can run 6 strands of 150 lights before you start blowing the mini-fuses in the lights. Do that at your own risk, we are not following manufacturer recommendations on that one!
At the top of the columns, a homemade bow is attached to another eye screw. We usually hang a lit wreath somewhere too. Power is run through timers and extension cords; we try our best to hide both!
One thing we've found is that most lights will not last more than one season. You can save them from year-to-year, but will end up tossing 75-80% of them the next year. It's just not worth the time to go through each and every strand looking for the one missing/broken/burned out bulb. Sometimes there is more than one bad bulb too.:)
If you need a shorter run of lights, we've found that the 150 light strands are broken into sets of 50 on the strand. Yank a bulb near where you need the strand to end and that section will go out. Then either remove a bulb from the section(s) you don't need, or simply cut the excess off. If you cut it (again, probably not manufacturer recommended), make sure you tape all the wires individually before you secure them.
Always plug lights into a GFCI outlet or GFCI protected circut! Most lights have built-in fuses anymore, but should those not work, you will want the extra protection from the GFCI.
Anyway, this is getting long so I hope this helps someone. This is how we do it, but it's not the only way, I'm sure!
Oh, one more thing.... We found out last year a way to solve the problem of constantly moving a ladder to hang the roping and lights: DRYWALL STILTS!! It takes a couple of minutes initially to get the hang of them, but they are much faster (and less tiresome) than climbing up and down a ladder and moving it 3-4 feet and repeating the process.... We rent them (stilts) for ~$25/day.
We do check the lights, usually around once per week. It is very important to have some extra bulbs and fuses when you do the checks.
How do others decorate? Don't ask me about pricing; that's NOT my end!:D Sorry, but I don't have any pics here at home.........
Dan
We decorate several (around 15) sites starting about a week before Thanksgiving. It usually takes about 6-7 straight days to get everything done. Most of the clients want the lights to be on the day after Turkey day, which requires advance installation.:)
We decorate several banks, most of them have similar features. Most houses have similiar features to the banks we decorate, so it's just a matter of adapting the process to fit the site.
Generally we run natural white pine garland/roping along the eaves (I guess it's not the eaves, but I don't know what it is called; it's where the brick changes to wood under the eaves....). This roping is zip-tied to eye screws that have been installed in previous years. We run roping around any columns at the front entrance. Usually there is four colums; the two on the left are run opposite direction from the two on the right.
Lights are then run with any of the roping. At a minimum, the lights are doubled anywhere there is roping. Some areas recieve triple lights, just because that is how it works out at the end of the strand. We've found out that you can run 6 strands of 150 lights before you start blowing the mini-fuses in the lights. Do that at your own risk, we are not following manufacturer recommendations on that one!
At the top of the columns, a homemade bow is attached to another eye screw. We usually hang a lit wreath somewhere too. Power is run through timers and extension cords; we try our best to hide both!
One thing we've found is that most lights will not last more than one season. You can save them from year-to-year, but will end up tossing 75-80% of them the next year. It's just not worth the time to go through each and every strand looking for the one missing/broken/burned out bulb. Sometimes there is more than one bad bulb too.:)
If you need a shorter run of lights, we've found that the 150 light strands are broken into sets of 50 on the strand. Yank a bulb near where you need the strand to end and that section will go out. Then either remove a bulb from the section(s) you don't need, or simply cut the excess off. If you cut it (again, probably not manufacturer recommended), make sure you tape all the wires individually before you secure them.
Always plug lights into a GFCI outlet or GFCI protected circut! Most lights have built-in fuses anymore, but should those not work, you will want the extra protection from the GFCI.
Anyway, this is getting long so I hope this helps someone. This is how we do it, but it's not the only way, I'm sure!
Oh, one more thing.... We found out last year a way to solve the problem of constantly moving a ladder to hang the roping and lights: DRYWALL STILTS!! It takes a couple of minutes initially to get the hang of them, but they are much faster (and less tiresome) than climbing up and down a ladder and moving it 3-4 feet and repeating the process.... We rent them (stilts) for ~$25/day.
We do check the lights, usually around once per week. It is very important to have some extra bulbs and fuses when you do the checks.
How do others decorate? Don't ask me about pricing; that's NOT my end!:D Sorry, but I don't have any pics here at home.........
Dan