One of my most favorite times of the year is Halloween. The weather cools off, the houses get decorated and I get to take the kids to get free candy! While most people decorate their homes for the seasons, it’s easy to get carried away and potentially create trouble instead of making your home look great for Halloween. From hanging lights to displays in the yard, I’ve seen homeowners use and abuse their home for displays and decorations. Before you decorate your home for Halloween, be sure to review these tips and prevent costly home repairs and problems.
Hanging Lights
A lot of people like to hang lights up during Halloween. If you’re going to hang lights from your homes fascia or soffit, invest in a bunch of plastic clips. These will break away first before they damage your aluminum or vinyl soffit/fascia panels. Never drive nails or screws into your soffit or fascia! Water will enter your roofs eaves and cause untold amounts of structural damages. ยท
Yard Displays
From simple pumpkins to blow-up inflatable Frankenstein’s, yard displays make any yard look great for the Halloween holidays. But no matter what you put out in your yard for your trick-or-treaters to enjoy (or scare) be sure that the area underneath gets reseeded with grass after the display is long gone by adding grass seeds and a layer of hay before you install your spooky yard display.
Electrical Connections
Many of today’s coolest Halloween displays are in need of some serious electrical power supplies. It’s very important that you use only quality heavy-duty power cords when using extensions cords for yard displays. Also, you should plug directly into a separate circuit breaker outlet when using multiple power cords. You’ll prevent damages to your homes power supply by using a separate circuit that takes any power surges first, instead of your expensive GFCI outdoor circuit. Best of all, you can flip a single switch to shut it all down when you’re turning off your lighted displays at night.
Pumpkin Preservation
Keeping your carved pumpkin fresh and new after it’s been gutted and chopped up can be difficult at best. To keep mold at bay without removing the moisture is tough to do. There are a wide variety of solutions that people swear by, but the most effective one I’ve used so far has been a solution of borax and water. Mix a few scoops into a spray bottle and fill it with water. Coat the inside and outside of the pumpkin once it has been carved and allow it to dry thoroughly before placing the top back on. Keep real candles indoors and use an LED pumpkin light instead. It will keep the pumpkin fresh even longer and you’ll prevent fire hazards too.
