William Ahern Posted November 17, 2007 Posted November 17, 2007 Hello all! I started hanging lights today and all was going well until I got to the gutters. Well, I thought I would need 34' length lights for all my strings. However, for my gutters I only needed about 27'. So I know have 21 extra bulbs. My daughter said "so what... so the porch will light up a little." I'm not very happy with that solution. I know I read on here about "bulb caps" vs. black tape. Plus someone mentioned just balling the excess up and wraping it with black tape, but I'm worried about heat build up (probably not a real issue in massachusetts, but whatever).So my question is, what's the best way to deal with these "extra bulbs".P.S. I know that I can't just removed them. taking 20 bulbs out of a 100 string... *pop*, *pop*, *pop*, *pop*, repeat ad nausem.
kevin Posted November 17, 2007 Posted November 17, 2007 I take my extra bulbs, wrap them up and put them in a black trash bag (Cut down to wrap the ball twice, than tape the bag shut and clip it to the roof or stuff it in the gutter.
DownTown Posted November 17, 2007 Posted November 17, 2007 When I have extra footage of lights (we're talking minis here), I just take the extra and run it back along with the original lights. It's double the lights in that section, but I'd challenge anyone to spot the sections where there are extras. Noone will notice except you.D.T.
Tim Fischer Posted November 17, 2007 Posted November 17, 2007 DownTown wrote: When I have extra footage of lights (we're talking minis here), I just take the extra and run it back along with the original lights. It's double the lights in that section, but I'd challenge anyone to spot the sections where there are extras. Noone will notice except you.I've done that. I've used blackout caps in a few instances. But usually I just try to find somewhere to put them (like if I'm going around the trim of the house, I'll put them in a bush nearby, usually along with a few more strings of lights to fill out the bush).-Tim
Guest wbottomley Posted November 17, 2007 Posted November 17, 2007 DownTown wrote: When I have extra footage of lights (we're talking minis here), I just take the extra and run it back along with the original lights. It's double the lights in that section, but I'd challenge anyone to spot the sections where there are extras. Noone will notice except you.D.T.Exactly Dave! I've been doing for years.
johnny christmas Posted November 17, 2007 Posted November 17, 2007 my clear icicles were about 5' too long along the top so i tossed them around the back of my house on the roof where it cant be seen...if you have a gutter at the end of the extra toss them in there wrapping them in a black trash bag
aksnowman Posted November 18, 2007 Posted November 18, 2007 I had this exact problem tonight. I outlined my garage door and had about 7 ft to long. I started to wrap back (they were garland lights) but it was way to obvious. So I just shoved them under the garage door and black taped the few that you could see making the transition. It worked for me.
cenote Posted November 18, 2007 Posted November 18, 2007 I've used things like soup cans and coffee cans too. Just shove them in, and cover the top with electric tape.Chuck
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