Tall houses
Christmas lights for two-story homes: light the top, and do not climb it yourself
The upper roofline is what makes a two-story house look lit from the street, and it is the line most homeowners skip because the ladder is scary. It should be. Here is how we handle tall houses safely and how to design them so they do not look top-heavy.
Why the second story is the whole show
From the road, the eye reads the highest lit line first. On a two-story colonial or a modern two-story in a Cranberry plan, that is the main roofline 20 to 25 feet up. Light only the porch roof and the first-floor windows and the house looks short and dark on top, like it is wearing a hat pulled down. Light the upper eave and gables and the whole house stands up.
That upper line is also where a DIY display fails first. It is the hardest to reach, so it gets rushed, the spacing drifts, and one clip pops loose in the first wind off the Allegheny and a strand hangs in a loop for the rest of December. On a tall house, the top is the line that has to be done best, and it is the one done worst by hand.
The ladder problem, honestly
Reaching a second-story eave means an extension ladder set on ground that in late November is often wet, frozen or sloped. Add a strand of lights in one hand, a clip in the other and a reach past the gutter, and it is exactly the situation that sends people to the emergency room every holiday season. We do not say that to sell. We say it because our crews are trained for it and most homeowners are not.
Our installers work from rated ladders and lifts with proper PPE, and the company is fully insured, so if anything goes wrong on your property it is our problem and not yours. The Elves are in costume because it is fun. Under the costume is somebody who does this every day. The safety side of the trade is covered at thraxel.com/blog/ladder-falls-and-holiday-decorating/.
Weather is part of the same calculation. We install only when conditions allow it, which on a two-story job means dry shingles and a still enough day to work a 28-foot ladder. That is one reason the early November dates go fast on tall houses: the daylight is longer and the ice has not arrived.
Designing a tall house so it does not look top-heavy
Light the top and the house can float. A bright upper roofline over a dark first floor reads like a lit roof hovering over nothing. The fix is a second, lighter layer at the entry: the porch roof, a garland at the door, wrapped columns or a lit wreath. The top line gives the outline and the bottom layer anchors it to the ground.
Keep the two layers in the same white. Warm white C9 on the upper eave with warm white minis on the porch reads as one design. Mixing in pure white below makes the porch look like it belongs to a different house. If you want color, put it on one layer, usually the upper roofline in multicolor C9 with warm white below, not both.
Dormers and second-story gables are the details that separate a good tall-house design from a great one. On a Cape or a colonial with dormers, tracing each dormer peak adds rhythm across the roof. The layouts we use most are at thraxel.com/blog/roofline-christmas-lighting-design-ideas/, all of which scale up to two stories.
- Upper roofline and front gables: the outline
- Porch roof, door garland, columns or wreath: the anchor
- Dormers: rhythm across a wide roof
- One white across both layers
Power and runs on a taller house
Two stories double the run lengths and usually put the upper eave a long way from any outlet. The crew plans the feed before anyone climbs: which outlet serves the upper line, how the cord travels up a downspout or a corner where it is invisible from the street, and where each strand ends so the plug lands at a clean connection point instead of dangling off a gable.
Longer runs also mean paying attention to how many strands are connected in series. Commercial-grade LED C9 on socket wire tolerates long runs well, but every product has a rated maximum and the crew stays under it, splitting the roofline into two feeds if the house is wide. When the display stays lit through a wet week, that planning is why.
What a two-story install day looks like
Most two-story homes are done in a single visit. The crew starts high while the light is best, working the upper eave and gables from ladders and, on wide or steep houses, a lift. The porch, door and yard come next, then power connections and timers. Before leaving, everything is switched on and checked from across the street, because that is where the design has to work.
Through the season, any failure on any line is handled within 24 to 48 hours at no cost, and on a tall house that matters twice. Nobody in your family is going up a ladder in December to fix a dark strand on a second-story gable. Takedowns start January 4 as weather allows, and the crew does the high work again on the way down. The full program is described at thraxel.com/christmas/.
Booking a tall house
Two-story homes take longer and need better weather, so they are the jobs we like to place in the first half of November while there is daylight and no ice. If your house is tall, reach out in September or October. After the render comes back and you approve it, the install date is locked and the crew arrives with the product already cut to your run lengths.
Homes in the Pittsburgh suburbs, from Murrysville through Wexford, and everything on our daily 16xxx route are quoted the same way: a free walk-through, a render inside 48 hours, and a scheduled install. Get on the list at thraxel.com/quote/, or reach Tyson directly at 724-859-4390 and mention that it is a two-story so he blocks the right amount of time.
