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I know there's lots of folks on here from Florida- do you guys, or anyone from other warm climates, store your lights in your attic. Curious to know if they stored OK or if the extreme heat degraded anything?
Good question. I'd like to know the answer to that one as well. I'm from Virginia and although it doesn't get as hot here as it does in Florida, I have two attic areas (house and garage) that I could put to good use...
psh...Those ain't hot climates! How about a bit of perspective from south Texas?
I store mine in the attic without any problems and we get temps in the 100's for several days at a time. I do have plenty of shade over the garage attic which is where I store them, but it still gets plenty hot!
Been putting my decorations in my attic for 30 plus years, really do not see any problems.
I have some old 1950's blowmold candles (still in the original boxes) we used in 2006, they only seen the attic for 20 plus years before 2006, they worked fine.
Dennis
Last edited on Monday February 11th, 2008 06:25 pm by Dennis Cherry
I store all my Christmas lights, cords & displays in the attic here in Florida. I have been doing it for 5 years now & no ill efects. & yes it gets #*%* hot in the attic.
BamaFlum wrote: psh...Those ain't hot climates! How about a bit of perspective from south Texas?
I store mine in the attic without any problems and we get temps in the 100's for several days at a time. I do have plenty of shade over the garage attic which is where I store them, but it still gets plenty hot!
Obviously you haven't been to Chicago in August! All through parts of the midwest, we get BOTH hot and cold. Here on the plaines side of the rockies, our highs can reach over a hundred for a week at a time. Though the saving grace is that it's a dry heat, and we tend to have a 30 degree temperature difference between high and low on the hottest days. Once it drops below 80, windows open and whole house fans fire up all across Wyobraska.
BTW--before I started venting our attic, it would often get to well over 150 degrees up there. Once I finish that project (soffit/ridge vents), I plan to store decorations in the attic, but not until. I found some old wooden chairs in our garage attic, and the legs were so dried and brittle that you could easily snap them in half. Old file folders had also been baked for so long that they crumbled in my hands.
The only thing I have ever had melt from being stored in the attic are candles. I have given my wife many thanks over the years for sneaking candles in with our Christmas items being stored. It does make a good mess. Otherwise, no issues with anything else. This is my experience from Florida and also Louisiana (Cajun Country).
Here is a question, you have a light in your attic? If so, it ever degrade? Also, I store items of much more value in my attic than my Christmas decorations, have never had an issue with anything other than candles.
tonyjmartin wrote: BamaFlum wrote: psh...Those ain't hot climates! How about a bit of perspective from south Texas?
I store mine in the attic without any problems and we get temps in the 100's for several days at a time. I do have plenty of shade over the garage attic which is where I store them, but it still gets plenty hot!
Obviously you haven't been to Chicago in August! All through parts of the midwest, we get BOTH hot and cold. Here on the plaines side of the rockies, our highs can reach over a hundred for a week at a time. Though the saving grace is that it's a dry heat, and we tend to have a 30 degree temperature difference between high and low on the hottest days. Once it drops below 80, windows open and whole house fans fire up all across Wyobraska.
BTW--before I started venting our attic, it would often get to well over 150 degrees up there. Once I finish that project (soffit/ridge vents), I plan to store decorations in the attic, but not until. I found some old wooden chairs in our garage attic, and the legs were so dried and brittle that you could easily snap them in half. Old file folders had also been baked for so long that they crumbled in my hands.
I've been in Chicago in August(Wife's family reunion)and it was warm but not hot. The Closer you get to the equator the warmer it gets right? Chicago is a few miles North of Houston and it gets a little warmer here. I'm not trying to high jack the thread but I have stored my lights in my attic for the last 12 years and I have no problems
Last edited on Monday February 11th, 2008 11:19 pm by sawyer1206
As long as the lights are not bumped around in either extreme color or hot weather, they should have no ill effects. Well, unless it gets so hot in your attic that it actually matches the temperature of the filament when normally powered. But if that happens...well, you have other issues....like dialing 911.
Okay, how about some experience from someone in Arizona. I think I got everyone beat down here both for hottest temp and length of the year at the hottest temp. No problems whatsoever with the lights. I have noticed however a problem with the trees or stars with the white tinsle/fringe. They tend to turn a nice (and by that I mean disgusting) brownish bronze color and the white on my candycanes turns yellow inside of a year. Keeping those in the garage this year but lights do just fine in the attic.
Hi. Sunny california, Lights,blowmolds fake trees do just fine. Now, wrapping paper and anything you wrap gifts with should stay in the cooler part of the house / garage it turns into something like old newspaper Robert
____________________ And on the first day he said, "let there be lights"....a lot of lights!
I have been storing lights and decorations in my Florida attic for past 11 yrs with no problems. A few blow molds have gotten brittle but this may be age as much as heat. This year I am storing in 16' enclosed trailer which I traded for a Sea Doo. I was getting tired of the up and treks from the attic. I used rope with hook on end to lower the 60 plus tubs. Not to bad. The other items were no fun as I have a lot of 10' items and it was a challenge. Loading the trailer this season was a cakewalk and unloading it will be fun. As it is unloaded, everything goes to area where it is used. Stops staging and double handling as I had to do when I unloaded attic. The trailer is ventilated so I hope it gets no hotter then my attic. I also feel it never gets as hot as an incandescent bulb when it is being used, so attic temperatures is not major factor to my lights. Most electronic devices operate at higher temperatures than my ambient attic temperatures, so heat is not a factor. Moisture can be a problem so good ventilation is a must. I hope my new trailer has enough ventilation to handle moisture problems. I will watch this closely and may have to run fans in unit if this becomes a problem.
I store most of my lights in the attic and the rest in an outside plastic storage bench. I have not had any issues with any of my lights as of yet (now I will, thanks).
Storing lights in the attic is fine including Illinois where the summers can get very warm-upper 90's to low 100's. Not as hot as you in the southern states, but still very hot. Just make sure that the attic is vented good to allow the heat to escape.
One thing that doesn't do well in the attic is inflatables, expecially with fake snow. I had one in my attic here in Arizona and the snow melted to the plastic on the inflatable. It ended up in the trash.
dboyer wrote: I know there's lots of folks on here from Florida- do you guys, or anyone from other warm climates, store your lights in your attic. Curious to know if they stored OK or if the extreme heat degraded anything?
My garage is bare rafters, no drywall. I have ridge vents so simply opening the garage door causes a big cool breeze to flush thru the attic spaces and with open windows in the garage there is a steady gravity driven breeze. I also have a very large oak tree that casts a shade over 3/4 of the house. In my case the attic rarely exceeds 110 degrees and I have had no problems at all except with candy canes accidentally packed away one year. They all melted in the heat. Now we learned to throw away all left over candy canes. For me my shaded and well vented attic actually hasnt been hard on candles, some mistakenly placed in the attic came down the next year in perfect condition.
For me I am wanting to put a solar water heater panel over the one corner of the roof that never gets shaded... all I can accommodate is a single panel. Luckily this 3/4 shade means summertime air conditioning doesnt cost me as much as neighbor's whose houses sit in full sunshine. Not unusual for a full sun attic to reach 160 degrees.
BTW: Florida is not all that extreme for heat. The 2 coasts and the seabreezes work wonders for capping off temperatures. I think Tampa's all time highest temperature ever recorded was 96.5 degrees, up in the continent they have have 100+ degrees as far north as Michigan. Here once you get above the 93 degree mark, the humidity, the formation of daily seabreeze "cool fronts" on the seabreeze results in outbreaks of thunderstorms or even the cool marine air itself comes in and blows the extreme heat away, although with high humidity and dew points of around 73 degrees can give you a "feels like" temperature into the 115 degree ranges, I dont think items in the roof pay attention to the "feels like" temperatures.
Last edited on Thursday February 14th, 2008 09:05 pm by Joseph Ayo
Chicago is a few miles North of Houston and it gets a little warmer here.
I'm not trying to high jack the thread but I have stored my lights in my attic for the last 12 years and I have no problems
Robert 
