Decorating atop of asphalt shingles

[TonyD]

Did you find it wasn't strong enough without the steel rod?

[brownjm74]

Did you find it wasn't strong enough without the steel rod?

Originally I was going to clip the mini's on the steel rod, then I realized what a PITA it would be. So I just zip-tie the lights to the steel rod. It doesn't add any strength.

Edited January 10, 2013 by brownjm74

[kelly jett]

just a couple of questions. how do you want to run you lights on the roof? if your just trimming the roof then light clips on the sides of your roof aren't gonna bother your shingles at all. if you have different angles and ridges on your roof you really only need to worry about a clip at the top and at the bottom. unless you get alot of wind the lights laying there aren't gonna go anywhere. and unless you have an issue with frayed light strings even if you get rain or snow it shouldn't affect your lights working. if you dealing with leds then you should have even less problems.

do you have a roof vent? my house has a roof vent on it and on the side of it there are holes drilled for any water that my be up there. all i do is use clips on the side and when i get to the top i just use twist ties and run them thru the hole and use it to hold up the string of lights. the holes are every foot or so. i only put a twist tie every 3 or 4 holes. when you get to the front then you can either use clips on the gutters or under the shingles at the bottom. the problem with the bottom is yes the shingle will be loose but most of your lights may end up in your gutter.

i have stripes that run up each side of my roof and i have clips at the bottom and then just i run up a string of lights then i twist tie then move over a ft or so twist tie again and then run down the roof. you don't need any clips in the middle of the roof cause the lights will just lay there.

if you don't have a roof vent then the previous post about the pvc across the top would work as well. you could also connect vertical rows of lights to the pvc.

as far as the floods for the second floor, you could go the a hardware store and get a section of gutter guard. i should be perforated so what can get to the gutters. then you could mount the light to the gutter guard and just put the gutter guard in the gutter. then you could run your cords down away from the gutter. it should be pretty easy to attach the light to the gutter guard. most of them are plastic or it may already have mounting holes. just use a long enough nut and bolt with a couple of washers and you should be able to attach it to the gutter guard without any problems.

good luck

[brownjm74]

if you don't have a roof vent then the previous post about the pvc across the top would work as well. you could also connect vertical rows of lights to the pvc.

The PVC will also work if you have a ridge vent on your house, It works just fine with mine. Just an FYI

[Push Eject]

[SteveMaris]

Most likely, roof professionals don't decorate like we do and have never tried what we do decorating wise.

They will tell you to never do this or that, but we on this forum have been doing this for many years.

The pros your looking for are right here in the forum. Take the comments here from all the members/professionals here and make your own decissions.

And I will repeat myself. I have been doing Halloween and Christmas decorating on my roof for 20 years using lag bolts and screws in the shingles. Not once did I ever form a leak in those 20 years. I even did this on my parents roof (actually my dad did this since I was a kid but I took over as I got older) and they never had a leak. If 20 years of experience isn't good enough for you then I don't know what is. But to each their own.

I was thinking of doing this exact thing for next year. I put deer and santa on the roof this year and made a wood platform that I held down with sandbags. Going up and down a ladder with 60lb sand bags will cause me to have larger than I want muscles on my legs. I don't want to have to buy new pants every year. I also can't see myself doing that when I get a little older (God willing)

So now that I am done with all the unnecessary bla bla, can you give a little more info as to how you go about running the screws into the shingles?

My thought was to get stainless steel eye hook lag bolts and run them into the roof after I pre-dip them with roofing tar. I can then zip tie the wire frames to the eye hooks.

Am I off base here? Any info from experience would be appreciated.

[Santas Helper]

I was thinking of doing this exact thing for next year. I put deer and santa on the roof this year and made a wood platform that I held down with sandbags. Going up and down a ladder with 60lb sand bags will cause me to have larger than I want muscles on my legs. I don't want to have to buy new pants every year. I also can't see myself doing that when I get a little older (God willing)

So now that I am done with all the unnecessary bla bla, can you give a little more info as to how you go about running the screws into the shingles?

My thought was to get stainless steel eye hook lag bolts and run them into the roof after I pre-dip them with roofing tar. I can then zip tie the wire frames to the eye hooks.

Am I off base here? Any info from experience would be appreciated.

Yes, I hauled concrete blocks up my roof for my snowflakes one year. 16 of them. That was the last time. Then lagged down hasps (with a little tar on each screw) that stayed in place all year and just attached the snowflakes each year. Made my life of decorating sooooo much easier, and faster.

The key is to keep the hardware installed, not removing each year.

I think your plan will work without any problems with the pre-dip method.

Just to keep in mind, there are business that install antennas and solar panels on top of roofs with no problems and is done all the time.