String lights can be one of the best ways to add that final touch to your backyard party or barbecue. Many homeowners, however, don’t have trees in their backyard. This can make it difficult to hang these long strands of bright lights. That shouldn’t change your plans though. There are still many other ways to create a beautiful display of string lights. In this post we’ll go over some of the simplest, most cost effective, and best looking methods.
Vinyl Siding
One of the best ways to hang string lights in your backyard is by simply attaching them to the vinyl siding of your house. This method is super easy and works great for small yards, and most importantly looks amazing. To hang lights or any other decoration from your vinyl siding, just purchase some vinyl siding hooks on Amazon or your local home improvement store. You can get a pack of 30 of these fairly cheap.
The best thing about this method is that it doesn’t cause any damage to the siding, the hooks are shaped to go over the top of an individual piece of siding, so you can place them and move them around as needed without making any holes.
Brick or stone siding
Vinyl siding hooks are a great option, but what if the walls of your home are built of brick or stone instead of vinyl? If your siding is flat brick, your best option is to use steel brick clips. Brick clips are specially shaped to fit over the top and bottom of a brick for a secure hold, which makes them an ideal method especially if you don’t want to do any damage to the brick.
Stone walls can be a little bit tricky since they’re uneven and unpredictable, but there are still a few good options. You can use a strong adhesive like gorilla glue, or you can use a concrete nail gun to shoot nails into the stone for use as hanging spots.
On your backyard fence
A backyard fence can be a great place to hang lights to surround your whole yard with a soothing glow. There are a few different ways to hang the lights on your fence, including using nails or simply draping the lights on top of the fence and around the posts. If you want to make sure the lights are hanging securely the best way is to use metal hook screws.
These are available at any home improvement store, and simply screw into any wood surface for an easy hanging spot. You’ll need to use a drill bit to make a starter hole or you won’t be able to screw the hooks in with just your hands. After you have the hole started the hooks should go in easily and make a perfect spot to hang string lights on your fence. Just be sure you keep the distance between hooks the same so everything looks nice and uniform once you turn the lights on.
From the house to the fence
Of course you can use a mixture of these methods, many people hang lights from the roof of their house to the fence on the back of their yard to create a nice “ceiling” of lights over the whole yard. If you want to do this it’s important to make sure each end of your string of lights is hung high enough that the lights won’t be low enough for people to run into them.
You can purchase poles specifically made for this at many home improvement stores. These blend in with your wood or metal fence, but add extra height every few feet to make an ideal spot to hang lights from the fence to your house.
With poles
The great thing about using a string light pole is that it will work whether or not you have a fence to put it by. If you have no fence and don’t want to attach lights to the siding of your house, this can be a great option. If you aren’t connecting the poles to your fence, however, it can be difficult to keep them standing up straight. If you just jab the poles into the ground they will easily fall over if someone bumps them or the weight of the lights is a little too much.
The best way to anchor light poles into the ground is by using concrete. You can set the poles directly into an 18 inch hole filled with concrete or you can make them removable. To do this, first dig a hole for each pole you want to put into the ground. The holes should be about 18 inches deep and a foot wide. Next, purchase a length of PVC pipe that fits snugly over the diameter of your pole. Set a 19-inch long piece of PVC in the hole and surround it with concrete so that one inch sticks out of the ground. Before pouring the concrete around the PVC, make sure the PVC touches the ground below to allow for water drainage. Let the concrete dry and you’ll have a sturdy hole to plant your light pole in.
On patio
Maybe you have a backyard patio and just want to hang lights around the edges of it for a party or barbecue. Well there are plenty of options there as well. You might not be able to hang the lights on a fence or vinyl siding in this case, but you can always use poles in the ground for a super simple and quick solution.
The best way, however, is if you already have a patio cover or pergola on your patio. With metal hook screws you can hang the lights all the way around or across your patio in whatever way you want, just make sure to hang them high enough so nobody hits their head.
Conclusion
With these simple tips, you can illuminate your yard in a fun way even if you don’t have any trees to hang lights from. You’ll be thanking me when you see the look on your guests’ faces at your next backyard party.
