How to Attach Christmas Lights to Brick
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2-4 hours
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Beginner
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- 50-250
While Christmas lights add a lot of appeal to your home during the holidays, hanging Christmas lights on a brick home can be a tricky endeavor. Brick cracks easily if you try to drill into it. This article will explain how to properly hang Christmas lights on your home without cracking or otherwise destroying your brick exterior.
Step 1—Design Your Christmas-Light Display
Before you go outside to hang a string of Christmas lights, make a game plan. Use drawings or photographs of your house and represent your lights with colored markers. You can make your design as elaborate as you want. Also, denote the brick parts of your home somehow. This blueprint will go a long way when you have to purchase not only your lights but your supplies to hang them.
When you purchase your anchors and screws, always buy more than you actually need. This will save you a major headache if you run out. Also, use only clear, plastic anchors because metal ones are not only visible but vulnerable to rust after prolonged exposure to the elements.
Step 2—Select Anchors and Screw Hooks
Before you buy the anchors, make sure you look at the package. You need to know the anchors' diameter. This is the size of the drill bit you'll need. Also, try to find screw hooks that are white or clear to match your anchors. Just remember that they have to be big enough to fit a strand of lights.
Step 3—Install the Anchors and Screw Hooks
You do not want to drill directly into the brick, as it can break if you do. You will be installing the anchors to the mortar instead. Put in your masonry drill bit and start drilling guide holes where you need them. Slowly drill the holes to avoid brick damage. When your hole is drilled you can insert the plastic anchor. Do not force the anchor in the hole with your hand. Tap it very gently with the rubber mallet until it is in place.
Once the anchor is snug in the guide hole, you can install the screw hook. You might need to use a pair of pliers to get each screw hook fully inside the hole. The idea is for the anchors to be tight so they can support the brick and for the screw hooks to be snug so they can support the Christmas lights.
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![H.R. Helm]()
H.R. Helm is an accomplished DIY craftsman. He has been DIY since childhood and is now a septuagenarian. He is experienced in wood and metal construction, having designed and built several houses and metal buildings. He built every permanent building on his current homestead and did all the plumbing and electrical work. He has several years experience as a professional cabinet builder, and he is an accomplished auto repairman, having operated an auto repair business for many years. He currently has a home shop where he sharpens and rebuilds saws, repairs lawn mowers, mobility scooters, hydraulic jacks, and anything else that comes along. He also builds custom tools for metal working. Invention prototypes are another of his many accomplishments. He owned and operated a manufacturing business building Compact Utility Vehicles for homeowner use. H.R. enjoys making jams and jellies during fruit season along with cooking meals. He is committed to outdoor cooking in a Bar-B-Q pit he welded together several years ago. He maintains fruit and nut trees along with helping his wife with a vegetable garden. He farmed commercial garden produce for several years. It helps to have over 50 years of farming and ranching experience. Employment/Education Highlights ASE Certified Master Auto Technician Certified Welder Cross country truck driver -- over dimensional freight Design Engineer/Project Manager for injection molded plastic company Bus Driver/Substitute Teacher Inventor with two patents (weight training – anti-rollback for manual wheelchair) BS in Industrial Technology
