Are Permanent Christmas Lights Worth It?

The yearly hassle of holiday lights

If you live in Haldimand County or anywhere in Southern Ontario, you probably know the routine. Sometime in November you drag the ladder out of the garage, pull a bin of lights down from the shelf and spend the first half hour untangling strings and hunting for the one dead bulb that knocks out a whole section. Then you climb up and down the ladder in the cold, clipping lights to the eavestroughs while the wind tries to take them back.

A couple of months later, you do it all again in reverse. Often that means a freezing weekend in January, with icy ladder rungs and stiff fingers. For many homeowners, it's the part of the holidays they look forward to the least.

How permanent lighting works

Permanent lighting replaces all of that with a system that's installed once. The LED lights sit inside a slim track that's mounted along your roofline, so they stay up all year instead of coming down every winter.

Everything is controlled from an app on your phone. You can pick any colour you like, set patterns, and schedule the lights to turn on and off on their own. That means red and green for Christmas, orange for Halloween, red and white for Canada Day, team colours on game night, or simply warm white every evening to light up the outside of your home. You can see how our system works on our permanent lighting page.

What it looks like during the day

One of the most common questions we hear is whether a permanent system will look odd when the lights are off. The track is matched to your trim, so during the day it blends into the roofline and is hard to notice from the street. Your home looks like your home, not like a house that forgot to take its decorations down.

At night, the lights do the work. Because they follow the line of your roof neatly and evenly, the result looks clean and intentional, without the droops and gaps that come with clip-on strings.

Peace of mind with a lifetime bulb warranty

Our permanent LED lighting comes with a lifetime bulb warranty. Instead of buying new strings every few seasons or tracking down replacements for burned-out bulbs, you have one system that's covered.

Who permanent lights suit best

Permanent lighting tends to be a great fit for a few kinds of homeowners:

People who decorate every single year and are tired of the ladder routine. People who like to celebrate more than one holiday and want to change colours throughout the year. Homeowners who want year-round accent lighting that makes the outside of the house look warm and welcoming in the evenings. And anyone who would simply rather not be on a ladder in the cold.

An honest note about cost

We want to be upfront: the initial cost of a permanent system is higher than picking up a box of string lights at the store. If you only put lights up once in a while, or you enjoy the tradition of hanging them yourself, traditional lights may suit you better.

Where permanent lighting really earns its place is for people who decorate every year or want lighting they'll use all year long. In those cases, you're trading a recurring chore for a system you set up once and control from your couch.

Questions to ask yourself

Before deciding, it can help to think through a few simple questions. How many weekends a year do you currently spend putting lights up and taking them down? Do you enjoy that job, or put it off until the last minute? Would you use coloured lighting for more than one holiday, or warm white accent lighting on regular evenings? And how comfortable are you working on a ladder at roof height in cold weather?

If your answers lean toward wanting less ladder time and more flexibility, a permanent system is worth a closer look.

Is it worth it for your home?

The best way to know is to look at your own roofline and how you like to decorate. We're happy to talk it through, answer your questions and give you a free, no-obligation quote. Learn more about our permanent LED lighting installation, or reach out using the form below.