Christmas Light Take Down and Storage

When it comes to taking down and storing the lights at the end of the season, we typically begin removing them the Monday after Christmas Day. We will send out a message to schedule a time to come back to their house and then remove, organize, and store (if needed) the lights for the following season. 

Process of Taking Down the Lights

The process itself is fairly easy- remove the clips, take down the strands, organize but there are quite a few tips/tricks that are crucial to ensuring the take down process runs smoothly. 

• Before you begin take down, unplug ALL wires from the timers.
• Removal process will start by unlatching the fasteners/clips from the house.
  • If you installed the lights with clips that do not pop off (ie: Tuff Clips), you can remove the strands by staying on the ground and using a pole to separate the lights/clips from the house (since the clips and strands will all come down together).
  • If you are using other clips (ie: All-Purpose Clips), you may want to hop on a ladder because most of the time, they will not come down with the strands (making it difficult to find them in the grass, on the house, and gutters, creating more work for you in the long run). 
• As you are taking down the individual strands, we recommend keeping them in the general area you took them down so you can keep track of where they came from. 

• When removing strands of lights, never do the following:
  1. Yank the fasteners/clips off the house by standing on the ground, this can result in broken lights and damage to the roof
  2. Swing or throw light strands at your crew or customers, this can result in an injury
  3. Dangle a strand of lights from the roof while you are removing it, this can result in breaking windows

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Process of Organizing the Lights

Once the lights are down, you can begin the process of organizing them. We utilize the photo of the house from installation to make sure the light strands are organized.

• Using the photo, you can color-coordinate and organize the strands you are taking down by marking the strand of the house in the photo and the actual strand of lights with the same color tape/marker. 
• If you notice any lights or spots that need to be fixed, you can use tape and a designated “mark” (we use a black X) to indicate an area that needs to be fixed at a later time.

Process of Storing the Lights

Now that the lights are down and organized, you can begin the process of storing them. We recommend using large totes to keep the lights organized by each house, making it easy for the next season.

• We label the storage tote with the customer’s name and include the photo guide we created of where the lights go on the house. We also mark totes that have any bad strands in them so we can later find the stands that need to be fixed. 
• It’s recommended to store the totes in a climate-controlled environment with silica-gel packets in the totes to collect any remaining moisture from the take down.

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