Many Ladue houses carry more on the eaves than a gutter. Landscape uplighting, copper or plastic clips for seasonal lights, and the low-voltage cable that feeds them all run along the roof edge, often tucked under the first course of shingles or fastened to the fascia. When the old roof comes off, everything attached to that edge comes off with it, and anything left behind or removed carelessly can cause trouble for years. This page is for the homeowner who has a replacement or a large repair coming and wants to settle the eave items before the first shingle lifts.
What is actually clipped to the eave
Holiday light clips are usually small hooks that hold a bulb string against the drip edge or the fascia. On many roofs they were nailed or screwed in with the shingle fasteners, which means they pierce the shingle, the underlayment or both. Each one leaves a hole. A hole that was sealed well enough for one winter can open up after several freeze and thaw cycles, when the sealant shrinks and the wood moves. The result is often a stain on the soffit or a drip at the ceiling below the eave, and the stain is easy to mistake for an ice dam problem.
Uplighting is less visible and sometimes more concerning. The wire usually runs from a transformer mounted on the wall or in the soffit, along the fascia, and through a drilled hole into the fascia board or rafter tail. The fixtures are screwed into the wood. If a conduit or direct-burial cable runs under the gutter line, it may have been laid right up against the roof edge. None of this is a roofing item on paper, but all of it is in the way when a roofer lifts the eave course and installs new drip edge.
Who disconnects the power, and when
Keys Roofing does not do the electrical work on landscape or holiday lighting. The power has to be shut off at the breaker, and the transformer and any low-voltage wire should be disconnected by the homeowner's electrician or the lighting company that installed the system. Ask for that in writing before the tear-off date is set. A line in the job schedule that says the lighting is off and the transformer is disconnected protects the crew, the homeowner and the schedule. If the lights are still live when the drip edge is pulled, a shingle nail or a crowbar can cut a cable, and the cut may not show until the first wet night.
The homeowner should also decide whether the lighting goes back up after the new roof is on. If it does, the reinstall needs its own step. Clips should be placed in the fascia or in a new bracket, not driven back through the new shingles. Some homeowners choose to remove the clips altogether and put the lights on a freestanding rail or a stake system. Either choice is reasonable. The roofing scope should say which one was picked, so that nobody on the crew makes the decision on the ladder.
What the scope should name
A written scope for an eave with lighting attached should name four things. First, the number of clips or fixtures along each eave, and whether they will be removed, replaced or left alone. Second, who disconnects the power and who confirms that it is off. Third, where any cable or conduit runs at the roof edge, and whether the crew will cut, lift or work around it. Fourth, how the holes left by removed clips will be sealed, with the sealant or the flashing piece named. A scope that says holes will be patched is not specific enough. A scope that says each old clip hole will be covered by the new drip edge and sealed at the nail line with the product named is a much better document.
Keys documents the eave before anything comes off. That means photographs of each run of clips, each transformer and each visible wire, with a tape measure in frame where the length matters. The homeowner gets a copy of those photographs with the written scope, so that a question about what was there before the work began has an answer on file.
Timing around St. Louis weather
Eave work tends to land in the cold part of the year, because that is when many homeowners decide to replace a roof, and because a lot of lighting is up from the holidays. If the old clips come out in late autumn, the holes are open to the weather while the crew waits for the new shingles to arrive. Ask where the shingle bundles will sit overnight and whether the open eave will be covered at the end of each day. A cold snap after a rain can freeze water into an open clip hole and make the crack wider than it was. Ask the crew to tarp or seal every removed clip location before the workday ends.
If the holiday lights are going back up in December, the sequence matters. A roof that is still being finished in late November may not be ready for clips that are driven into new drip edge until the crew has finished the eave flashing. Set a date for the lights to go back up that comes after the roofing crew has signed off on the eave, and make sure the lighting company knows the date.
What to do before the crew arrives
Walk the eave with a phone and take a photograph of every run of lights, every clip and every visible wire. Note which lights are on a timer, which are on a separate circuit and where the transformer sits. Call the electrician or the lighting company and ask them to plan a disconnect on the day the eave work starts, then ask them to confirm it in writing. Ask the roofing company to show you the eave section of the scope and to name the fasteners and sealant it will use at the clip holes. If anything on the list is unclear, call the Keys Roofing office at (314) 220-2333 and ask before the start date rather than after.
The decision in front of most homeowners is simple. The lights can come down, the wiring can be disconnected, and the holes can be sealed properly, but each step needs an owner and a date. A roof replacement that treats the eave lighting as an afterthought usually leaves a mess the homeowner finds in the spring. One that writes down the clips, the power, the cable and the sealant before the tear-off usually does not.