How to mount Christmas lights on Colorbond fence?

[bazz235]

I'm wanting to put up some custom infinity light Christmas lights outside my house (fully colourbond fenced block).

See the diagram for a very rough idea:

The boxes in red are made of 100mm fence palings and measure 1200 high, 300 wide and 100 deep with two sheets of acrylic in each. They weigh maybe 5-10kgs.

The yellow circles are 3D printed circles, 500 diameter by 70 deep, again with two pieces of acrylic. Probably 5kg each.

The blue circles are 3d printed circles, 200 diameter by 70 deep, again two pieces of acrylic. Maybe 2kgs.

As these are just temporary Christmas lights I'm not too keen on drilling into the face of my fence. What could be some other ideas on how to mount these for a month without breaking the bank?

[CSParnell]

Hi @bazz235 personally I would use a good quality 3M clear hook and hang with fishing line that way nothing is permanent.

If you want to make it tensioned the  apply hooks to the bottom side and tie it down in the opposite direction.

Make sure the surface is clean before applying.

[EricL]

Hello @bazz235

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's fantastic to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about mounting your Christmas lights.

It's great that you've received excellent advice from @CSParnell. To securely hold your light displays in place, I suggest using Ecoply 2400 x 1200 x 12mm Non-Structural Plywood. I'm aware that you are not keen on drilling into the face of the fence, but would you consider drilling into the post? A few of our members have attached Matrix panels to their fences and we generally recommend that they attach timber support to the Colorbond fence posts.

In this scenario, you can do the same thing, but the best part is that you can use the plywood face as the mounting point for your decorations which means that you won't need to drill into the middle of the fence. If the budget allows you can even paint the plywood the same colour as your fence and make it blend in. Normally I would recommend using just a piece of timber, but when you join the weight of all your decorations it is close to almost 100kg. 

Have a quick look at this discussion -  Attaching screens to the Colorbond fence by @eemrun. In the discussion, I recommend using Zenith 10G x 40mm Galvanised Self Embedding Head Metal Screws Winged - 50 Pack. I propose a minimum of four screws on each post. I suggest using ordinary timber screws to hang your light displays on the plywood.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric