Attaching led light strands to house

[asl9622]

Hey everyone,

I am going to outline my roof line and gutters with led light strands. They come with an adhesive backing but I doubt that will hold up from mid November to January. How does everyone attach them to keep them straight on shingles and metal gutter? I also will be outlining the house which is brick. Last year with normal mini lights I super glued clips and that worked great. Any advice would be great. Good luck to everyone this year.

[rainyoregonchristmas]

Are you talking RGB Ribbon?  If you are, and it has the adhesive back, have you checked the IP rating.  Needs to be IP68 to hold up outside in the wet winter weather.  Some strips which have a silicone top, and a fiber back with the adhesive on it and are not rated for outdoor use and will quickly die in the elements.  If it is IP68, consider attaching it to a substrate like some conduit, or metal bar stock using small zip ties.  That way you are not using the adhesive, which yes will fail, and you can then attach the substrate in any manner of ways to your intended location.   If they are not IP68, see if you can return them as they are not what you are looking for. 

 

-RainyOregonchiStmaS

[asl9622]

Are you talking RGB Ribbon? If you are, and it has the adhesive back, have you checked the IP rating. Needs to be IP68 to hold up outside in the wet winter weather. Some strips which have a silicone top, and a fiber back with the adhesive on it and are not rated for outdoor use and will quickly die in the elements. If it is IP68, consider attaching it to a substrate like some conduit, or metal bar stock using small zip ties. That way you are not using the adhesive, which yes will fail, and you can then attach the substrate in any manner of ways to your intended location. If they are not IP68, see if you can return them as they are not what you are looking for.

-RainyOregonchiStmaS

Yes sorry ribbons is what I using. Thanks for the heads up on ip68. I am attaching them to pvc frames inside the windows. How to I attach any bars etc to roof line with out gluing or drilling into shingles?

Edited September 22, 2015 by asl9622

[jrock_at_rons]

I'm using 1x4s that I've ripped in half. I then screw j-channel to the back and mount the lights to the front. I also added a small piece to the bottom to keep it "level" on the gutter (so it faces straight out).

They just hang from the gutters then in 8' sections.

I'll take a picture tonight and post.

Edited September 22, 2015 by jrock_at_rons

[rainyoregonchristmas]

Any solid media that's light enough for your gutters to hold up should work, whether it is PVC pipe, aluminum tubing, pine firrings etc.  Then have them dangle from hooks from your gutters edge.  On my house I built frames for my LEDs that lay on my roof.  They actually attach at the bottom where they meet the gutter.  I use zip ties to secure each of them to two or three of the gutter nails.  You could do the same if you wanted to do a matrix on your roof.  Basically the gutter keeps the frame from sliding off, and gravity holds it down to the roof. 

 

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B391FEB1972280F0!404&authkey=!AONwuYCPNCqPqCc&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg

 

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B391FEB1972280F0!247&authkey=!APms-g60rTtX0N0&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg

Edited September 22, 2015 by rainyoregonchristmas

[asl9622]

Any solid media that's light enough for your gutters to hold up should work, whether it is PVC pipe, aluminum tubing, pine firrings etc. Then have them dangle from hooks from your gutters edge. On my house I built frames for my LEDs that lay on my roof. They actually attach at the bottom where they meet the gutter. I use zip ties to secure each of them to two or three of the gutter nails. You could do the same if you wanted to do a matrix on your roof. Basically the gutter keeps the frame from sliding off, and gravity holds it down to the roof.

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B391FEB1972280F0!404&authkey=!AONwuYCPNCqPqCc&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B391FEB1972280F0!247&authkey=!APms-g60rTtX0N0&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg

Thanks for the tips. Your house looks great.

[canadianchristmas]

For my RGB strips I make frames out of 1/2" PVC electrical conduit pipe, I use zip ties to attach the strips to the frames and for the window frames I use many layers of electrical tape on the corners to keep the strip looking straight, Also I should mention I like to use PVC glue on my window fames to prevent them from bending around, or coming apart in the corners.

To attach the window frames to the house I use this: http://www.homedepot.ca/product/all-round-strapping-galvanized-24ga-3-4-inch-x-25-feet/963716 It is 24 gage 3/4 inch galvanized strapping, (The link I gave is a link for Home depot Canada so here is the U.S alternative).

To mount the PVC frames I use roles of that metal strapping mentioned above and cut it to the length I want using tin snips, I then make hooks out of it to mount my frames. 

The above method is how I mount my frames but you mentioned you have brick so you may need to use brick ties.

 

Hope this info helps, If I remember I will have to post some daytime pictures tomorrow of the frames and the metal strapping mounting method I came up with.

[jrock_at_rons]

Here are some pics of the eave/gutter frames I use (I haven't put the lights on these yet).  Its just a ripped pine 1x4, painted green with J-channel (to hang from the gutter) and a wood stop (to keep it level).  They are fairly straight forward and easy to make.  Saves me a ton of time in that I am mounting them to the house 8' at a time instead of bulb-by-bulb.  I use S-clips to mount the C9s to the front of the frames, you could easily mount RGB strips instead though.

 

The middle picture is a profile to show the J-channel and the wood stop I use to keep it level.  Without the stop they would hang towards the ground instead of straight out at 90 degrees.

 

 

I hope these help.  

Edited September 23, 2015 by jrock_at_rons

[sticks4legs]

I use residential J-channel for siding and then use binder clips to hang them off the bottom of the sofits

[sax]

Many great ideas here.

I use 1/2" metal emt for my temporary strips. I put these on my gutters using s hooks. Strips are zip tied to the emt.

I do have steep eaves that I have strips permanently placed. They are 3 years old and still look good....no fading yet. Hope it never fades but that is the risk.....

Anyway, for those strips (they are CCRs) I have them mounted with glazing tape.

[Little_b]

I too used the J-Channel and F-channel.  Works great they've been hanging for 3 years now.

 

Here's a photo of what I did and the link to the video shows a little as well around the 7:05 mark

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5i2F72IyBY

 

 

All of mine are under the rain gutters, but I found you can attach the J-channel over the top front if you like.  They just self clipped on and seemed to hold fine.  I checked this out in my initial testing, which was 3 years ago so I don't remember exactly the details, but decided I liked them better underneath so I could leave them up all year.

 

[tomsusie]

I'm planning to zip tie my CCRs to 1/2" pvc and then fasten that to the roof (in a manner still being worked out).  But I'm having a problem in finding pvc pipe in 16.5' lengths (which is about what is needed for a CCR ribbon.  I've been to Lowe's and they only sell up to 10'.  THey are checking to see if they can get longer lengths from the plant but I was told they might require I purchase a full lpallet (which would be fine if I was decorating the entire neighborhood) -- I only need 10 pieces at that length.  I've checked HomeDepot on line and could not find long lengths and since amazon carries everything under the sun I checked their web site with no success.  From other posts it seems like people have used a single pvc pipe long enough to hold the ribbon instead of joining two smaller sections.

Any ideas will be most appreciated!  thanks!

[tomsusie]

Here's an update to my dilemma on finding 16.5' pvc pipe.  Lowe's called back today and they can get it but it would be a special order and will take 7-10 days and cost $5.12/foot!  I said thank you but I need it sooner than that (and thought to myself I'm not paying that much for pvc pipe!) So I hit the internet again and searched for plumbing supply places in my neck of the woods.  Found a couple and first one I called had 20' pipe available next day.  THey don't fabricate or cut to size but I can handle that.  And their price was $6.25/20' section!  So much cheaper and available tomorrow.  

[mixnight]

I'm planning to zip tie my CCRs to 1/2" pvc and then fasten that to the roof (in a manner still being worked out).  But I'm having a problem in finding pvc pipe in 16.5' lengths (which is about what is needed for a CCR ribbon.  I've been to Lowe's and they only sell up to 10'.  THey are checking to see if they can get longer lengths from the plant but I was told they might require I purchase a full lpallet (which would be fine if I was decorating the entire neighborhood) -- I only need 10 pieces at that length.  I've checked HomeDepot on line and could not find long lengths and since amazon carries everything under the sun I checked their web site with no success.  From other posts it seems like people have used a single pvc pipe long enough to hold the ribbon instead of joining two smaller sections.

Any ideas will be most appreciated!  thanks!

You can use PVC inner/inside couplers so each ribbon will need two pipes and one inner coupler, it will look like one long pipe, you can google it as a PVC inner coupler, here is one online store:

http://www.spadepot.com/shop/Pipe-Inside-Connector-2-P10200C730.aspx?zmam=55673001&zmas=1&zmac=1&zmap=BX9624&gclid=CJnMq8arickCFZMvgQodhEYHSw

[tomsusie]

You can use PVC inner/inside couplers so each ribbon will need two pipes and one inner coupler, it will look like one long pipe, you can google it as a PVC inner coupler, here is one online store:

http://www.spadepot.com/shop/Pipe-Inside-Connector-2-P10200C730.aspx?zmam=55673001&zmas=1&zmac=1&zmap=BX9624&gclid=CJnMq8arickCFZMvgQodhEYHSw

Thanks for the information.  I'll keep that in mind down the road.  Managed to find what I need for this year.

[Kapkirk]

I didn't realize they made inner couplings for 1/2 inch schedule 40, smallest I ever used before was 1 inch,  a lot of 2 inch.

 

Keith