Christmas lights in West Midlands
Even though there are so many places selling Christmas lights, shopping for them can be exhausting and frustrating, simply because the shops are teeming with customers desperate to buy them too. By visiting The Garden Centre Guide, you will be able to enjoy shopping for your lights at your leisure, without all the frustration of going from shop to shop, battling through the crowds and possibly go home empty-handed.
With The Garden Centre Guide, you can do a quick search to find garden centres close to where you live and browse through the wide variety of stunning outdoor lights they have to offer and buy the ones that you feel suit your needs best. No frustration, just a really pleasant experience.
Safety tips for hanging your outdoor Christmas lights
It’s a lot of fun decorating the outside of your home for Christmas and when you have outdoor lights to hang up, the effect is absolutely spectacular. However, there are some important things you need to adhere to when hanging your lights to make sure that your Christmas is the happy, cheerful one you want it to be, such as:
- Use only lights designated for outdoor use – indoor lights won’t be able to cope with weather conditions and will break down faster
- Use the correct bulbs – don’t be tempted to use 7-volt bulbs because they are bigger and burn brighter. They also burn hotter than regular lights so carry more risk of causing a fire, especially when hanging close to gutters that are filled with dried leaves
- Built-in fuses – ensure that there are built-in fuses (sometimes situated in the actual plug) on your strings of outdoor lights
- Replace blown bulbs immediately – if a bulb has blown on your lights, replace it as soon as possible with a bulb that has precisely the same wattage
- Use only tried and tested lights – check that the lights you buy have been tried and tested by a reliable testing laboratory. If they haven’t been verified, then don’t use them!
Install your lights the right way
- It’s not a good idea to tap into your home’s feeder line to get power to your Christmas lights and don’t use them for hanging outdoor decorations either
- Nails, metal staples and nails should be avoided when securing outdoor lights. Insulated hooks should be used instead, with lights being strung as tightly as possible to prevent them from being damaged by the wind
- Don’t connect more than three strings of lights to an extension cord and make sure the extension cord is one specially made for outdoor use
- It is very important that the plugs for your outdoor lights are plugged into a ground fault circuit interrupter(GFCI)-protected outlet
- After Christmas remove your outdoor lights carefully as pulling them will result in the bulbs breaking and the wires coming away from the sockets
After buying your outdoor Christmas lights through The Garden Centre Guide, simply follow the above safety hints and tips, then decorating your garden will be the happy, fun experience that it should be for you and your family. It will also be the perfect time to teach your children about the importance of handling electrical items safely. If installed correctly, your decorated garden and its display of sparkling outdoor lights will be an absolute hit in your whole neighbourhood!