Christmas Time Instructions:

K

kev415

Registered
These instructions represent my procedure on how to get a 10 foot tall, 6 foot wide Christmas tree through a 3 foot wide door.

1) Weld a new Christmas tree stand together. Use 10 guage steel for the body and 1/2" square stock for the legs. Use 5 1/2" hex bolts for holding the tree in the stand. Make sure that this weighs at least 30 lbs. Paint Green.

2) Use Chainsaw to 'widdle' down the trunk so it fits in the stand and leaves room for water. Also at this point, use chainsaw to lib off the branches you know you dont want.

3) Attach Stand to tree. GET IT STRAIGHT! Sink bolts .5" to .75" into the trunk of the tree. Use 1/2" breaker bar to turn bolts.

4) while you have the tree laying down, wrap it in a tarp. This step is not completely necessary, but cuts clean-up time in half.

5) Over the tarp, wrapt the tree in two layers of cardboard.

6) Use 3 LARGE ratchet straps, the wider the better. (I used the big 4" wide load straps that you see the truckers use) Cinch the whole thing up to the point just beofre the limbs start cracking.

7) Take 2 more large pieces of cardboard and duct tape them to the inside of the door frame to make it slide easier, chute style.

8) Pull through door, unwrap, decorate and WOLA!!

http://www.mark8.org/users/kev415/xmasbigtree.jpg
 
RE: Christmas Time Instructions:

Wow. Did you have to borrow one of the electric company cherry pickers to decorate it?
 
RE: Christmas Time Instructions:

Nope, but I did have to pull the tree over to do the top section of lights. The elctricalt co. should allow me to borrow their cherry picker for all of the Power I am using up!

Next year, I want the tree to be tall enough so that the top goes up into the cut out for the skylight, i think that would be wicked nasty!
 
RE: Christmas Time Instructions:

At least you don't over do it like my family. They put up 3 artificial trees, all of which are over 7 feet tall (the 12 footer goes in the foyer) and one real tree usually around 7 feet tall.

Thankfully I am at school this year while this is going on :)
 
RE: Christmas Time Instructions:

It's very beautiful, Kev. I always admire all the work people put into their decorations. We have one here (like 6 miles from me) that makes the evening news every year. The town has to have police there nightly, to keep traffic moving, or finding a spot to park. The home is 3 & 1/2 million and the owner is a Billionaire (with a B)! His property covers 2 acres and he turns it into a fairyland for kids and adults too. You park and stroll thru his propery of 100,000 lights, run by his own gerenator system. Santa is there nightly and all ornaments move, talk and walk, very very little is anchored down. The Birth place is re-created, and the sheep move about, thru computers. The homes owner runs all the computers. It's unreal!!! At the end the wife stands and thanks everyone for coming and there's a pot for $1.00 donations to his church, and she hands out HUGE candy canes. He takes in like $1,000 a year. It opens around 12/15 and goes to N.Y. Eve.
We go every year, and really enjoy it. He & I (the owner) exchange wishes and talk each time I go. I still don't know how he made his money. He has 2 Bentleys, an Arnage Sedan & Continential T Coupe, a Testarossa Ferrari and an Isuzu Ascender Sport Ute.
It's a really nice season, if only as an observer.
If only our armed forces could be home.
 
RE: Christmas Time Instructions:

Sandy:

Sounds like a spectacle! The closest thing to that I can find to my house is the home of Tom Monahan (sp?)--former owner of Domino's. It's Domino's Farms and you can drive through it each year.

I love this season!

Scott
 
RE: Christmas Time Instructions:

At least you don't over do it like my family.
Click to expand...

As much as I would like to say that we dont over do it, I dont think I can make that claim... We have a tree in the barn, obviously for the horses to look at (dont ask me...), we have a 5 foot tree in the other living room that we let my mom go all Martha Stewart on (and no, we didn't pay little mexican children to do it for a penny apiece), and my dad sent me down to the lake house with 2 more trees, one for the big picture window in the front of the house and another for the end of the peninsula.... Its a good thing we own a Hardware Store, I think we would have gone broke buying all of the lights otherwise....

Side note: If you plug too many light sets together and you are blowing the in-line fuses, cut off a little chunk of 12 guage romex nm house wire, take the sheathing off and stuff that in there in place of the fuse, works wonders. Diclaimer: Do not try this at home, Unless you are properly set up to do so (running a 30 amp (2 linked 15 amp) GFI breaker instead of a regular 15 amp)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top