Haunted Home Exterior

Oct 11

It is spooky season, which for many means it is time to decorate your home sweet haunted home! Home decor for holidays like Halloween can liven up a neighborhood and really give it a festive feel. With the pandemic still ongoing, many are looking to go big with their decorating to make up for the missed celebrations of the past year.

One important thing to remember when making your exterior home decorating plan is to be conscientious when selecting how to adhere and anchor decor to your home. Large displays can be so much fun to enjoy, but you don’t want to leave yourself with damages after the season comes to a close.

It is always best to learn from others’ mistakes when at all possible. So, let’s explore some of the approaches people have taken that did not pan out well for the exterior of their homes.

Siding and Decor

One awesome trend that is becoming more and more popular is attaching decorative pieces to home siding. Whether you have an army of skeletons crawling up your walls, bats flying above your front door, or huge spiders creating a web over your home, it is important to do it in a way that will not cause a costly headache between Halloween and Thanksgiving. While we at Accountable Siding only use James Hardie Fiber Cement Siding, we understand there are other types of siding that need other methods to decorate without damaging.

Let’s start with what not to use to stick decor to your home.

First, avoid using a hot glue gun to attach items. Take it from this Facebook user who had to learn the hard way. Hot glue can pull off paint or outer coating from siding to create some unsightly paint problems. Next up, avoid tapes on the exterior of your home. Some tapes will work fine, but it’s best to air on the side of caution when it comes to tape. Some individuals have reported that they have ended up needing repairs when the tape would not come off. The tape being heated by the sun can make it even more difficult to remove when it is time to take down your Halloween decorations. Third, it is best to avoid nailing or drilling into your siding so as to not make any unattractive random holes that stick out the rest of the year.

The best options seem to be to use fishing line, Command Strips/Hooks, Velcro, zip ties, suction cup hooks or hooks that will work well with the type of siding your home has. For Fiber Cement Siding, such as James Hardie Siding it has been suggested that the best option is to unbend paper clips to form hooks that can hook up into the siding planks. Vinyl siding hooks can be found on Amazon, some users claim they work for other material siding, but others disagree.

Next, don’t create a bloody nightmare.

Another issue that Facebook users have remarked on is the popular use of fake blood in decorating. If you have ever used fake blood, I am sure you have experienced the power it has to stain, but fake blood isn’t the only thing that can cause staining to the exterior of your home. Other people have noted that gel window clings when used on siding can also stain. We would not recommend applying fake blood or any red dye to your home’s exterior. However, we recommend one of the following options to give you the look you are after without damaging your property: projections, clear drop cloths painted, or clear shower curtain splattered.