How to Hang Stringers for Deck Steps

Even your deck steps can benefit from decoration.

Hanging stringers (decorative rope, with or without attached items) onto your deck steps is a great way to decorate for a party, be it a luau, a beach party or even a football barbecue get-together. The stringers can be made from plastic decorations like fake grass to give the appearance of a jungle, or you can drape flags off the underside of the deck steps to show your support for the team. You can also lay down bead strings for a more hippie look or perhaps fake rat-tails for a Halloween party.

Things You'll Need

• Painters tape
• Stringers (or other decoration)
• Measuring tape
• Pencil
• Glue gun

Instructions

1. Decide upon the look that you want to go with. A football party is to be decorated in the colors of the team, if it is a Halloween party then you need fake entrails or finger bones. Secure enough of these decorations to cover all you deck steps as leaving some steps undone would look out of place. Use the measuring tape to measure the width of the deck steps so you can estimate how many decorations it takes for full coverage.

2. Mark on the deck steps with a pencil where you wish to lace the stringers on the deck step. Mark over onto the top of the step as you will be covering the front facing of the step with painters tape. Place the painters tape over the front edge so that the wood is no longer visible. Use multiple layers of painters tape to cover the wood as the painters tape will protect it. Plug in a glue gun to the wall outlet and wait for the gun to heat up. Place the tip of the stringer onto the painter tape and then affix the stringer with the glue gun. Squeeze out a small dollop of glue and then hold the stringer for 10 seconds to allow the glue to set.

3. Repeat this attachment process for all the marks that you put down. This process can take some time if you have a lot of steps to complete so feel free to ask for help from friends and family.

4. Peel the painter's tape off after the party to pull the stringers off in one go. The painter's tape will have protected your deck steps and sped up the cleanup all by themselves.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid getting hot glue on the wood, as it will then bond to the wood and be a pain to remove from the wood surface.

References

• Lets MAke Robots: Hot Glue Gun
• 3M: Painters Tape on Textured Surfaces