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Installing Christmas Lights: How to Stay Safe

Installing Christmas Lights: How to Stay Safe

When installing the right set of Christmas lights, it’s important to be safe. This is so that you don’t end up injuring yourself or put others in danger. There could be electrical problems with regard to the wiring, or a bulb could suddenly burst due to overheating. This is why residents need to take the right steps and have a handy checklist for when putting up Christmas lights.

The best way of staying safe is to focus on installing high-quality lights the right way. The second-best thing that you can do for yourself is to opt for quality health insurance. This will ensure that you’re protected against unforeseen circumstances should emergencies occur.

Buyers can find the best short term health insurance quotes online and opt for the right ones for their family members. Christmas time is the time when a large number of injuries happen, many of them attributed to poor electrical wiring. A premier strategy to ensure that you’re well protected is to ask your healthcare provider about what plans work for you.

Test all your lights prior to putting them up

Testing your lights is important, as it’s the preliminary way of ensuring safety within the house. If you’re going to put up many lighting sets across the home, then it’s critical to check them before installing them. Since even a single malfunctioning light can cause a wiring problem in the home, it’s good to check them all out once beforehand.

It’s even more so important to not reuse older lights. If you only use old lighting fixtures, string lights, and lamps every year, then there could have been significant mold exposure. When these older lights are lit up, they may crack under the pressure or spark when there is a voltage surge. It’s best to throw out older lights and go for newer options.

Putting up indoor lights? Remember these steps

When it comes to indoor lights, there is a range of steps that one needs to think about before putting them up. Also, LED lights are your best bet when it comes to being safe and having a clearer idea about what you want to put up. These lights don’t drain a lot of power, which is a limited commodity during the holiday season.

It’s also important to not have too many lighting circuits connecting to one socket or plug point. You should distance out your lights so that there is no sudden surge in power drawn from any single point in the house. Distributing the power draw helps in maintaining safety throughout the festivities. It’s good to know the safety standards listed out by the National Electrical Code (NEC) or any other relevant state organization.

For outdoor lights, focus on controlling the surroundings

Outdoor lighting can be tricky, as you need to control for a large number of variables. There could be a healthy amount of snow settling on your roof or your house walls, which could disrupt the electrical connectivity. You could face outages or even have electrical fires to deal with. The weather can also turn sour, with fast winds and ice forming on the connected tree.

Additionally, you need to be careful when putting up your lights around the house, as well. The ladder may slip on the ice, or you may have an accident while removing the lights. Certain types of wood can start to rot, thereby creating weak spots around the house. You may need to opt for a quality wood rot repair firm to fix that for you. This can help maintain the aesthetic look of the home, while not allowing any water to seep through the electrical wiring.

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