Installing Christmas lights on a outdoor 30ft tree - Does anyone know where I can find tips or best practices?

November 19, 2012 5:51 PM

Hi Mefi. Im faced with the task of installing Christmas lights on a outdoor 30ft tree. Does anyone know where I can find tips or best practices? Looking for simple guides, pictures, videos, etc. I'm doing this alone and would appreciate the help!
posted by Highest_Of_Fives to home & garden (3 answers total)

When installing light on the tree, attach them in an up and down pattern, as opposed to winding the lights around the tree.

Keep your weight centered on the ladder and do not overreach. If you feel that you have to shift your weight to reach a spot, you need to move the ladder!

For safety reasons, have someone with you. They don't have to help, just have a phone to call 911 if you should fall.
posted by JujuB at 6:22 PM on November 19, 2012

A tree that high should not be tackled with just a ladder. If it is really 30 feet, that's higher than a 3-story house. The best thing would be to hire someone with a cherrypicker. Check painting contractors or signmakers.

Alternatively, get a really long extension pole of the kind used for pruning etc., with a hook taped to the end of it. Make a stiff wire loop, attach one end of a string of lights to it, use pole to put loop over the top of the tree, and use pole to twist lights around the top of the tree. Cover the top 15 feet of the tree that way. Use a ladder for the bottom 15 feet.
posted by beagle at 6:49 PM on November 19, 2012

I've used the old "pole with wire" on it solution for years. Not for 30 feet, but for 15-20' with a ladder. Some sort of stiff pole with a hook made with a coat hanger usually works great, with some duct tape involved holding it together. Most of the time I really just need to get a section of the wire/lights bound up enough in the tree to hold the rest up there.
posted by Big_B at 11:38 AM on November 20, 2012