Thread: Help hanging blacklights!

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I have 2 48 inch blacklights that I would like to mount or hang under my porch. The problem is the only thing I can attach them to is vinyl siding. Does anyone have any advice or knowledge in attaching these? The blacklights are heavy and I'd HATE to have a lawsuit or an injured TOT, due to it falling.

A very easy strong way to do this would be to hang a length of 3/4 pvc the length of the area you want to mount the light to and use electrical ties around the pvc and the light. You wont have any problem with them falling and the take down will be fast and easy.

how do I attach the pvc to the vinyl siding?

Are you talking about hanging the lights overhead on the porch? If so, there are nailers between your porch ceiling rafters and the soffett. If you locate the nailers, you can attach the lights to them. You can normally do so by feeling along the ceiling to find the most solid spot. You can also use a stud finder, but I don't trust them much. If you are talking about attaching the lights to the siding, there has to be a solid wall to nail the siding to. Again, feel along the wall or use a stud finder to locate an area to nail or screw to.

Get a couple of the plant hanger hooks that screw into wood. Make sure to get the long ones. You can get the extra heavy duty ones that are also made to hang tools at any hardware store. Since it is an outside porch, it should be plywood underneath, not drywall.

I agree with halloween4ever, and use plant hooks or even small eyehooks and screw them into the rafters overhang. you can caulk around them to weather proof it. Then put a couple eyehooks on the blacklights and hang them from the hooks with chains.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

I would do a few things, first, I would gut as mcuh as possible from the fixture and mount the lights in 5" vinyl gutter, to hide the bulbs, provide more protection, and add directionality.

I would use industrial velcro to attach that assembly to whatever surface you want.
Then they can be moved/removed easily.

I use waterproof aquarium endcaps for my T12 or T8 lamps, this way I do not rely on shoddy tombstones. and you can mount them to the gutter easily.

My old supplier says they are still available in the T12 (the fat fluorescent bulbs) so we will start carrying them