Hire someone to hang the Christmas lights you already own
Plenty of Capital Region basements hold bins of lights that nobody wants to carry up a ladder in November. Some installers will hang lights you own. Many prefer to lease their own commercial-grade LED strands, because they know those strands work and fit the house. Ask about both when you get a quote, since who supplies the lights changes the price.
If you're supplying them, a little prep makes the visit faster:
- Plug in every strand and throw out the dead ones.
- Sort the C9s for the roofline from the mini lights for trees and shrubs.
- Note roughly how many feet of each you have.
- Leave the bins somewhere the installer can reach, like the garage.
Our opinion: retire old incandescent strings with mismatched bulbs. Dead sections and odd colors show from the street, and a leased LED roofline usually looks better for the same visit.
Hanging Christmas lights on gutters, peaks and the roofline
Professionals hang roofline lights with plastic clips, not nails or staples. Gutter clips hook over the gutter lip and hold each C9 bulb upright. Shingle tabs slide under the shingle edge to carry the line up a peak. Nothing goes through your roof or trim.
Most jobs start with the front gutters and garage, then the front gables, then the porch roof. Stories and roof pitch decide ladder or lift work, which is why a two-story colonial takes longer than a ranch with the same footage. Bulb choices and layouts are on our roofline Christmas lights page.
Holiday light hanging on trees, shrubs and porch railings
Off the roof, the lights change. Mini lights wrap tree trunks and limbs in a tight spiral, net lights drape over foundation shrubs in one piece, and lit garland winds along porch railings. Tall maples and evergreens may need a lift, so give rough heights when you ask. See tree wrapping and wreaths and garland for more.
Timers, outlets and cords for hung Christmas lights
Power is the part people forget until install day. Installers plug into an outdoor GFCI outlet, run cords where nobody trips on them or catches them with a snow shovel, and set the lights on a timer. In December the sun is down by 4:30, so a timer that switches on at dusk beats remembering to plug in.
No outdoor outlet out front? Say where the nearest one is on the quote form. A cord through the garage or a window works, but it needs planning, and a long roofline may need more than one circuit.
Who puts up Christmas lights near Albany, Troy and Saratoga
Around here, Christmas lights get hung by holiday lighting companies and by landscapers, gutter cleaners and window cleaners who add it in their slow season. Methods vary, so ask three things: how they fasten the lights, whether they'll hang lights you own, and whether takedown is part of the price.
We cover the city houses of Albany and Troy, Schenectady and the suburbs out to Saratoga Springs. Tell us your town and what you want hung, and we'll match you with a local installer.
Christmas light takedown, booked with the hanging
Takedown usually happens in January, on a dry day above freezing, because prying clips off an iced gutter cracks them. Book it with the install so it doesn't slide into March. Leased lights leave with the installer. If the lights are yours, ask how they come back: labeled by section and boxed makes next November quicker. Our Christmas light removal page covers the rest.
Done hanging lights every year? Permanent Christmas lights mount once in a track under the eaves and stay up.