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How To String Outdoor Patio Lights

Ways To Hang Outdoor Patio Lights Without Nails

How to hang string lights for your patio

Having patio lights will help you enjoy your patio. It will also make your home look better and improve your houses curb appeal. However, is there any way to hang them up without putting nails into the wall?

One of the ways to hang outdoor patio lights without nails is using adhesive hooks or gutter hooks. Alternatively, you can tape or staple them to your wall. You can also hang them on trees, bushes, posts, potted plants, and your fence. Another way to brighten up your patio is by using lanterns.

In this article, we will discuss the benefits of installing patio lights. We will also go over the best ways to install patio lights without using any nails.

Why Install Patio Lights Without Nails

However, before we get into it, we will explain the benefits of installing patio lights and why installing them is better without using any nails.


Nails Can Damage Your House

Whether you can use nails to install your patio lights depends on what kind of siding your house has. For example, if you have stucco siding, you cant use nails to hang your patio lights. You may also want to be able to move your patio lights from one place to another easily, and using nails to install them wont let you do that.

Improves Your Homes Curb Appeal

If anyone drives by your home and you have a for-sale sign on your front lawn, having a well-lit patio will make your home more attractive. More people will notice it, and they will be more interested in buying. They will also be willing to pay more.

Most Common Types Of Outdoor String Lights

  • LED Festoon Lights

These LED string lights outdoor are an extraordinary addition to any garden or patio, explicitly due to their sentimental and fantastic appeal. Additionally, they wonderfully make an inviting vibe when installed from a roof or hung around a dining or seating region.

  • Vintage String Lights

Do you want to give a rustic feel to your backyard or patio? Certainly, vintage string lights are your best bet. Also called Edison bulb lights, these string lights have remained to hold its distinctive and enchanting appearance for decades.

  • Lantern String Lights

With lantern string lights, you get the chance to make a one-of-a-kind lighting experience that is surreal. These lights seem like conventional paper lanterns but are produced using tarpaulin a sturdy fabric-like material that can endure most seasons, even winters.


  • Colorful String Lights

Colorful and bright string lights are most common during holiday seasons like Christmas or Easter. Similarly, in case any of these unique events are approaching, feel free to invest in these string lights and welcome the happy occasion in your own stylish manner.

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How Do You Hang Edison Lights Under Covered Patio Deck

To hang Edison lights under a covered patio, you’ll need to have hooks or screw eyes that are drilled underneath the ceiling of the covered patio or deck. Next, use silicon to do preventative shielding for water damage. Hang the string lights without the bulbs. Once the string lights are hung up, add the bulbs on along with an extension cord and automatic timer.

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Make Your Backyard Ready For Summer Nights With String Lights

Lovely summer evenings implore you to spend the night in your patio under the stars. You can without much of a stretchand reasonablyoverhaul your outdoor space just by including a couple of strands of bistro lights. Certainly, the comfortable vibe will have you and your family dining outdoors each day of the season.


Summer is a period for bringing enchantment out of the generally ordinary and enjoying a touch of whimsical feel. With those long, pleasant night times and the coming of companions anxious to open a bottle of wine under the stars, the outdoor patio is your probable hangout.

On the other hand, whats a better approach to offer that previously mentioned enchantment than porch lighting fit for an endless summer of magic? Since they are simple, inexpensive, and easily accessible, bistro lights are the designers go-to. Certainly, these subtle adornments can give any space an instant mesmerizing beauty.

Above all, the best part is that there are probably endless varieties of string lights. From Edison bulbs to bobbing Chinese lanterns, basic or extravagant, the lights you string over your porch represent your inner summer soul. Ultimately, this means you are someone who knows how to entertain, as well as enjoy the glorious glow of string light installations.

Longer days and hotter evenings require a particular type of calm and quiet. Summer is the point at which the mood of the world backs off, and delights in things winter brutally denies.

How Do You Hang String Lights On A Patio Without Nails

Top Outdoor String Lights for the Holidays

Most hooks use nails to hang string lights, but there are a few ways you can hang string lights without nails. Try using:


  • Staples

Staples are more secure than tape and are not as visible as nails.

  • Gutter hooks

Gutter hooks hang on your gutter, so you dont need nails to fasten them to your home.

  • Adhesive hooks

Adhesive hooks stick to the side of your home. But these wont be as sturdy compared to nailing a hook into your wall.

  • Tape

Tape is the least secure of the four options, but it wont damage your home if youre worried about drilling holes into your walls.

You can also hang your outdoor string lights in a few different places that dont require nails.


These include:

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Choosing The Right Brand

After learning the best ways to hang string light bulbs, you will need to choose the right brand for your house. Some brands are appropriate for temporal hanging during events while others are appropriate for permanent fixing. Therefore, you should purchase the best string lights that fit your needs.

The most common string light brands are:

1. Bistro lights


These lights consist of glass bulbs that give off a yellow glow. They are ideal for outdoor lighting. They are ideal ambiance lights that offer a pleasing night experience with warm overhead light.

2. Twinkle lights

They are available in both plastic and glass bulbs which is efficient in energy production although, they give off cool blue light.

3. Edison bulbs

They are a pseudo-vintage type of string bulbs that are of higher end. They have an orange filament that gives out a warm glow with a timely ambiance. However, they are expensive to replace.


How To Hang String Lights: 10 Different Ways

Outdoor string lights are wildly popular, and for good reason! They feel magical and bring a warm, intimate ambiance to any party or outdoor living space.

Inexpensive, simple for the average person to DIY, relatively easy to put up and take down with the seasons, and the list goes on

And if youre still not sure what kind of lighting is best for your outdoor living space, I walk through more backyard lighting options in this post.

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Lounge By The Chiminea

If your outdoor seating area is under-utilized after dark, try this method for bringing light. Sarah of Thrifty Decor Chick offers some simple ideas for hanging string lights over an outdoor seating/dining area, complete with a chiminea. She favors Feit Electrics warm incandescent bulbs, strung on a heavy, weather-resistant cord .

Host An Outdoor Movie Night

How to- LED Patio String Lights

Get away from your screens and set up a movie projector instead. All you need is our genius guide for setting up an outdoor theater, and some decorative string lights to amp up the ambiance. We suggest going green with solar-powered fairy lights . These pretty, warm-toned lights are engineered to withstand weather conditions and work between six to eight hours on a full charge.

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Interesting Uses For Patio String Lights

With their flexibility and low cost, string lights offer a great chance to get creative with outdoor lighting. Here are five of our favorite uses for string lights.

1. Illuminate an existing outdoor structure, like a pergola or gazebo, with strands of string lights. Hang them along the rafters, wrap them along the handrails, or frame theperimeter.

2.Create a soft garden glow by layering string lights into your landscaping. Weave smaller bulbs think Christmas tree lights through sturdy bushes and hedges.

3.Use string lights to create a sparkling universe of light underneath a covered porch. In this case, more is more! Drape strands from every surface.

4.Trees are a great natural support for string lights. Tightly wrap the cord around mature trunks, or drape them softly from branches for a more romantic look

5.Carefully pile string lights into wire, woven, or glass vessels. Safer than candles, this glowing look creates soft ambiance without the flicker or fire hazard.

Hang Your String Lights

Now just connect the lights to all the hooks, and thats it.If you just have one strand of lights, youre done after you attach the lights with cable clamps or hooks.

But often youll need to connect strings together. Just secure the male end to the female end of each string.

Check with your manufacturer to make sure that you are not connecting too many strands together. If you connect too many it will put a lot of strain on the string lights. The weight of the lights add to the tension of the string and it may also make the lights sag. A little curve is natural, but you dont want them to hang too low.

If you are hanging glass bulbs, consider removing them before hanging your string. This way, you dont have to worry about them breaking during installation. Its incredibly helpful to remove the bulbs if youre hanging several strands of lights or if they cross each other.

Use guide wire to support the hanging lights if needed. If you are hanging heavy bulbs or running hanging lights about 100 feet or more, we recommend guide wire. It provides extra support for your hanging lights, reducing the tension of the strings.

Check out this video to learn more.

If you buy lights with hanging grommets, you can thread the guide wire through the grommet before you hang the lights.

If your lights dont have grommets, use zip ties to secure the guide wire to the string lights. You can do this before or after hanging the lights.

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Build Your Own Supports

Our final method to hanging outdoor lights is to build your own supports. This is the most expensive and time-intensive option but it can be well worth the effort.

Although there are countless ways to build supports, my favorite method uses buckets and poles to ensure easy portability. In my opinion, this is far superior to a permanent method where you bury the pole in the actual ground.

My favorite method to build your own supports consists of placing support poles in two heavy-duty buckets and then adding in a heavy fill material.

I prefer wood poles but hollow metal poles and even PVC pipe also work well. I like to fill each bucket with gravel to hold the pole in place. However, for a somewhat more permanent design you can fill the buckets with concrete, like Quikrete.

Simply cut the poles to your desired height, place each in a bucket, fill the bucket with a heavy material, and hang your lights – voila, you’ve just completed one of my favorite patio lighting ideas!

Outdoor String Lights Care And Maintenance

15 Inspirations of Solar Hanging Outdoor Patio Lights

A good care for your outdoor lighting will keep them working for many years without any problem.

  • Check and replace damaged fixtures including batteries on time
  • Ensure your outdoor solar lights are receiving sufficient amount of sunlight
  • Clean the bulbs and fixtures to remove rust, dust, soil and debris
  • Ensure your outdoor string lights are made of waterproof materials
  • Ensure the cables and covers are protected from damages caused by animals
  • Let an electrician fix any problem if you have no idea of what to do

Outdoor lights are continuously exposed to weather elements that can easily damage or affect how they function. Invest in a reliable brand of outdoor string lights with weather resistance properties. Let your lights and fixtures be installed by a professional electrician and you will hardly have a problem with your outdoor lights.

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Wrap The String Lights Around Trees

You can use any trees in your yard as impromptu light stands.

While its perfectly fine to do this, youll want to make sure to shift the lights regularly. You want to avoid having the string lights grow into the tree .

You can choose to drill directly into the tree, but be careful not to permanently damage it.

Choose A Staple Brand Of Lights That Are In Stock All Year

I have tried pretty much all big brand lights out there but I now only buy my outdoor lights from Home Depot because they keep them in stock all year . If you buy off brand string lighting, you will run the risk of the lights not being available for replacement bulbs or if you want to add more strings over time. I also buy two extra boxes for replacement bulbs because at $12.00 a box, its cheaper for me to just buy more string lights than buy replacement bulbs.

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Coaxial Staples Work Best

Coaxial staples are the best things to use if you are securing lights to wood like the side of your home or trees.

As you can see above, the cord is secured by the staple opening.

You can buy Coaxial staples at Home Depot, Lowes, etc.. in various sizes. Just check the size of your string light cord to get the right size.

Ideas How To Hang Outdoor String Lights

SIMPLE WAY TO HANG PATIO STRING LIGHTS!! INDOOR OR OUTDOOR!!

String lights are a quick and easy way to add ambiance to your outdoor living space. They come in all shapes and sizes, so you can find one that fits your decorating needs.

The goal of this post is not to teach you how to hang your string lights, its to give you inspiration and lots of ideas. You will know how to do it!

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How To Hang Outdoor String Lights From Diy Posts

Café lights add a gorgeous glow to an outdoor living space, but they can be tricky to hang if you dont have trees or other tall objects to string them from. Heres a freestanding solution for hanging lights that uses planters and wood posts. Its totally temporary, so its perfect for renters.

  • spray paint in desired color
  • drop cloth
  • 2 x 2 x 8 posts
  • coordinating paint color, if desired
  • painter’s tape
  • 50 lb. bags of quick concrete mix
  • water
  • gravel or other drainage material
  • potting soil
  • 100 feet of patio string lights

How To Hang Outdoor Lights From Trees

If youve got big trees near your patio or deck, youre in luck! You can use eye hooks, cup hooks, or coaxial staples to secure them to the tree.

Cyndy from The Creativity Exchange anchored her patio lights to a tree in this beautiful outdoor dining space.

Ariel from PMQ for Two made use of some nearby trees to hang lights over her super-fun outdoor living room.

Or drape them in the lower branches of a tree, like my friend Kippi did for this gorgeous backyard 4th of July party.

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Item Have Been Added To Cart

Trees are natural supports for decorative outdoor string lights, especially if you have them on both sides of a grassy area. Learn how to string lights across the backyard correctly, and your lights will look like theyre floating in the air after dark.

  • First, measure the distance from tree to tree where you want to hang the lights. Consider how tight you want the lights pulled as you measure. Taut lights give more structure, while looser ones feel more casual.
  • Drill guide holes on the trees where you want to hang the lights. With a helper, string the lights from one tree to the next, holding them carefully to make sure the holes are the right distance apart. Mark the spots on the trees and drill guide holes.
  • Install a hook into each tree at the marked spot. Install the bulbs in your string lights.
  • Thread the string lights onto the hooks. Make sure theyre securely in place.
  • Connect your string lights using an extension cord if needed. Check to be sure your string lights work properly. If necessary, use an additional hook to secure the string lights firmly against the trees.

If you’re wondering how to hang string lights in a backyard without trees, put them on your deck railings instead.

Tip: Use exterior tape in place of staples if you are concerned about damaging your railing.

A combination of hooks and staples may be the most stable option. This is often true if your string lights are hanging overhead, such as on a covered patio or deck.

Hanging Lights With Wire

30 Outdoor Patio LED &  Bistro String Lights Ideas ...

Whether its an outdoor patio, pergola structure, open yard, or tree-filled glade, outdoor string lights will add magic. But in order to ensure longevity , I think the best way is to use support wire.

Using support wires isnt required. If you want to drape them through the trees, thats ok, too!. But it does relieves stress on the electrical wire and allows you to keep the lights taught above your head and all hanging the right direction.

It is especially useful if you have long stretches of lights, like all the way across the yard or a clearing. In short, using wire to hang outdoor lights gives more stability and a cleaner look.

You could purchase stainless steel wire and eye hooks from your local hardware store, but I found it simpler to purchase these string light hanging kits at the same time that we ordered our lights. We used three of them for ~320 ft of strung lights.

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