Christmas Light Acronyms

It seems like acronyms are becoming more and more prevalent in our society, and the world of Christmas lights is no exception. So here is a quick guide to the acronyms you might come across while dealing with Christmas lights.

LED: Light Emitting Diode. LED lights last longer and use less power than comparable traditional Christmas lights.
C7 and C9: Denotations of bulb sizes. C stands for “candle” which describes the shape of the light’s “flame-like” appearance, and the numeral represents the number of eighths of an inch in diameter of each bulb. (For example, a C7 bulb is 7/8 inch wide, while a C9 is 1 1/8 of an inch in diameter.)
GFCI: Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter. This type of circuit-breaker is recommended on the electrical outlet you use for your lights. It can sense small imbalances in an electrical circuit and quickly shut off the electricity to the lights to minimize the chances of electrical accidents when a problem occurs.
UL: Underwriters Laboratories. This organization is responsible for setting industry standards for the quality and safety of electrical products like Christmas lights. You should only use UL-approved lights for your home.

The Most Important Part of Hanging Christmas Lights

When you’re hanging Christmas lights on the outside of your home, what’s the most important thing to have?

It’s not the lights or the bulbs. Not a hammer or a set of pliers. It’s not even the power cords or an electrical socket.

It’s the

    ladder

.

Think about it. You can’t hang lights on the eaves without one. And using it properly is the best way to avoid an accident while hanging the lights.

So here are a few things to keep in mind about your ladder.

• If the ladder is bent or has broken or missing rungs, don’t use it.

• Set freestanding ladders on a flat surface.

• Avoid standing on the top rung or step of any ladder.

• Lean extension ladders at an angle against the house, but not too close to vertical.

• If you must lean a ladder against a gutter, put a 2×4 in the gutter for support.

• Don’t “jump” the ladder to the side as you hang lights. Climb down and move it.

• Don’t stretch too far away from the ladder. This is how people get injured.

Happy hanging!

No Fuss Lights – Your Christmas Lighting Specialists

It’s already been a December to remember at No Fuss Lights, and we haven’t even gotten to Christmas yet! Our designers and installers have been crisscrossing the Houston area hanging holiday lights, decorating doors and fences, and making sure that we don’t rest until every home we visit looks bright, cheery, and spectacular!

In fact, it’s becoming readily apparent that we at No Fuss Lights have underestimated our popularity.

The demand for our services in 2015 has been unparalleled in the history of our company. Phone calls and online requests for quotes are coming in to our office as fast as we can respond to them.

Because No Fuss Lights is a small business, we sometimes don’t have the manpower to simultaneously speak with customers, provide on-site cost estimates, and install holiday lights at homes as quickly as we would like. So if you have contacted No Fuss Lights this holiday season, we humbly ask for your patience if we do not respond to your inquiry immediately. Please rest assured that No Fuss Lights is doing everything possible to serve all of our current and potential customers during this busy time of year.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the entire Houston-area community for their strong support and patronage throughout 2015. And we wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a joyous and blessed holiday season.

“…absolutely floored at your creation…”

We made a quick flip and got home tonight about 9:45..We pulled up in the RV and the kids, my, wife, and I were absolutely floored at your creation. GREAT STUFF man..!!! Just gorgeous…!! Thank you very much… I bet this house is the hit of Bellaire this year!!!! The tree is awesome, all lights incredible, just all around first class job.

Please let me know what we owe you and I will have check ready for you tomorrow.

Again, thank you very much..Way way more than I expected – just beautiful..!!!

Have a great Sunday,

Clay

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Some people enjoy putting up Christmas lights on their home and in their yard. They get to exercise their creativity a little bit, and it may help them get into the holiday spirit.

But nobody likes taking down Christmas lights.

Think about it: the holidays are over, you’re trying to get back into a routine and start the new year off on the right foot, it’s cold, and you’ve got your eye on college bowl games, the NFL playoffs, and Rockets’ games. The last thing you want to do is get on the roof, unhook lights, wrap up displays, wind up light cords, and stow them away in the attic again.

Did you know that if you hired No Fuss Lights to put up your Christmas lights, they’ll take care of removing them as well when the holidays are over?

There are plenty of ways to be creative and to embrace the Christmas spirit. But there’s no way to get back the lost time you’ll have to spend taking down Christmas lights. So why not call No Fuss Lights today?

When Your Christmas Lights Go Out

Imagine this: it’s a Tuesday in December, and you arrive home from work to notice a few Christmas lights burned out on the roof of your house. You rummage around for a replacement bulb but fail to find one – or maybe you have to rush out to a Christmas show put on by your kids. Then you forget to buy spare bulbs on Wednesday when you’re forced to work late, you have to do some Christmas shopping on Thursday evening, and on Friday night your attendance is expected at the office Christmas party. Saturday is shot because of all the shopping and other holiday errands you have to run, so you have to give up watching football on Sunday just to get on the roof and replace those bulbs!

Here’s some good news: if you call No Fuss Lights to put up your Christmas display, you don’t have to stress about burned-out bulbs. Because if you notice any lights that aren’t working for any reason, No Fuss Lights will come to your home to fix the problem within 24 hours. That’s their promise to you.

We all could use a little more time during the holidays. So let No Fuss Lights handle your Christmas light display while you turn your attention to more important pursuits – like Sunday football!

Do Your Christmas Lights Short Out?

Do you have problems every year with your exterior Christmas lights shorting out? Have you ever found yourself dreading the moment that your turn into your driveway every evening – because you know you’re likely to discover another shorted-out strand of lights?

Then of course, you have to examine the plugs, inspect the fuses, check the breakers, and try to figure out where the problem is. You might even have to crawl around on the roof in the dark. By the time you’re finished, half of your evening is gone and you’re likely to be cold and tired.

We’ve found that one of the most common causes of Christmas lights shorting out is the improper use of an indoor lamp cord with a three-way splitter on the exterior of the house. Usually, this setup leaves at least one female socket exposed to the weather and elements – which can cause all of the lights connected to that power source to short out.

So use outdoor cords and splitters and cover unused sockets – and you may just get a little peace on Earth for yourself this holiday season!

Free Up Storage Space Now Used By Christmas Lights

Where do you store your Christmas lights?

Up in the attic? In a closet on top of your old bank records? In some cabinets in your garage? Under the bed in your spare bedroom? Or do you just leave them hung up year-round?

Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to store your Christmas lights at all?

That’s one of the big advantages of going with No Fuss Lights. Not only do they handle the hanging of Christmas lights AND take them down after the holiday season passes, but No Fuss Lights hauls them away and stores them in their warehouse.

No more rolling up cords, cramming strands into boxes, or shoving lights into attic crawl spaces. It’s a big reason why customers prefer No Fuss Lights over fly-by-night companies or lawn-services-turned-decorators that only hang up or take down lights.

Everyone is always looking to find a little extra space in their home. Why not eliminate Christmas light storage issues by calling No Fuss Lights today?

Will No Fuss Lights Hang the Christmas Lights That I Own?

When No Fuss Lights decorates your home for Christmas, they will not use your lights in the display. But really – that’s a good thing.

For one thing, No Fuss Lights uses only commercial-grade, high quality Christmas lights in their displays. These lights are designed to last longer than store-bought lights, and can stand up to the elements much better as well.

Because No Fuss Lights only works with their materials, they can guarantee the quality of their work. If they used your lights, which likely contain several burned-out bulbs and maybe even a frayed wire or two, the appearance of your Christmas display would suffer. But No Fuss Lights does all it can to assure that its lights are functional, safe, and beautiful.

Plus, you don’t have to brace yourself for another trip into the attic to fish out the Christmas lights, untangle the cords, and check all the bulbs to make sure they work. For some people, that’s reason enough to call No Fuss Lights!

Will LED Christmas Lights Really Save You Money?

You’re probably noticing more LED Christmas lights in stores and on homes this season. There are several reasons why people may opt for LED lights over traditional bulbs – but is saving money one of them?

LED lights reportedly save you 85% on your energy costs. So let’s do a few calculations.

Suppose you want to keep your decorating relatively simple and use only ten strands of 100-bulb “traditional” miniature lights. If you keep them lit for 12 hours a day throughout the month of December, you would see your electric bill rise by an average of about $13.34. So if you chose LED lights instead, your 15% savings would net you a whopping $2.

But let’s say you wanted to add ten strands of 25-bulb “big” lights, which use about three times more power than the mini lights. Then your average additional cost would be $55.02 for the month under the same conditions – saving you $8.25 if you swapped them out for LED lights. That’s a little better.

Now, if you choose to go all out with 50 strands of mini lights and 50 strands of “big bulb” lights (none of which are LED lights), you’d shell out an extra $275.08 for your December power bill on average. So converting your yuletide scene to full LED would save you $41.26 – which could be used to buy another gift or two for your family.

It all depends on how important saving money is to you.