How to safely decorate your roof for Halloween
Believe it or not, Halloween is just around the corner, and if you happen to be one of the scores of adults who enjoy getting into the Halloween spirit as much as kids do, that means it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to decorate your house for the occasion.
In particular, adorning your roof with decorations is an excellent way to demonstrate your Halloween spirit. But, as is the case with most things in life, there are some ways to do so that are more advisable than others.
If you decide that decorating your roof is what you want to do, here’s a good checklist to keep handy while you do so.
Safety first
Of course, safety first tops the list of any checklist for a task that includes physical labor. But in this case, ensuring safety means more than just having a spotter for your ladder. You’ll want to give your roof a thorough examination before you install any decorations to it. If you find any mold, algae, dents, or anything else that should not be on your roof, that needs to be addressed before you can go about dressing it up for Halloween. You’ll also want to gradually test your roof’s strength to see how much weight it can support before you equip two hundred pounds worth of materials to it.
Light up the night
You can spend a solid fifteen or twenty hours on some of the most elaborate Halloween decorations the world has ever seen- but if people can’t see it at night, they won’t see it, period. After all, trick-or-treating is typically done after the sun goes down when it’s dark out-and thus, lights become just as important for reasons of visibility as for setting the mood. How, exactly, you illuminate your decorations is up to you, but the most common way is to purchase a spotlight and aim it at your roof. Another potential avenue to explore here could be stringing up Halloween lights, which are similar to Christmas lights except for the fact that they’re typically purple and orange. Whatever you do, just make sure your decorations are visible before Halloween itself rolls around so you don’t suddenly discover that nobody notices your decorations when it’s too late to adjust them!
Be spooky
Last but not least, make sure your roof has at least a touch of the spookiness that defines Halloween! Jack o lanterns are typically better suited for display inside a window than on a roof, but you can hang all kinds of traditionally spooky items from your roof- as well as simply sitting them on top of your roof if it’s flat enough. Whether your spooky creature of choice is a vampire, a zombie, a goblin, a witch, or a ghost, you can’t go wrong. As was mentioned in the first step, though, just make sure you’re not asking your roof to hold more weight than it’s capable of.
