American River Canyon Christmas Light Installation

American River Canyon has two things most Folsom neighborhoods don’t: hilly river-canyon ground and a heavy canopy of huge mature trees. Both make a house look wonderful lit up, and both make hanging the lights yourself harder. That makes American River Canyon Christmas light installation the kind of job worth handing off. Describe the house, send pictures, and we reply with a plan.

People often assume the canyon has a full HOA. It has the American River Canyon Maintenance Association, known as ARCMA, and its job is narrower than that. ARCMA owns and maintains the landscaped parkway strips and fences along American River Canyon Drive. By its own published explanation, it enforces the parkway CC&Rs only. Each street has CC&Rs of its own, and ARCMA has said it does not enforce those.

So we found no association-enforced holiday lighting dates for individual homes. The association keeps its current governing documents on a resident portal, and your street’s CC&Rs are yours to read, so check both if you want to be certain. Two things follow for us. We build the schedule around what you want. And we keep off the parkway: no lights on ARCMA’s fences, strips or trees along the Drive. Questions on any of that: (916) 570-9568.

A canyon lot is harder to read from one picture than a flat one, so we ask for a few more. Send the front from the street, a shot from each end of the driveway, the trees you’d like lit with something in frame for scale, and your outdoor outlets. Tell us if the house sits above or below the road. On the call, at (916) 570-9568, we go through what you want, then we write the plan and the quote. Nobody comes to measure. The contact page takes the photos if texting isn’t your habit.

Most homes date from the 1980s and came from various builders, so the street doesn’t repeat itself.

• Ranch homes. One long, low roofline. It’s the simplest to light and the easiest to judge from the curb, so the line has to be straight. Clips on the gutter or shingle edge keep it that way.
• Tri-levels. The roof steps up in sections at different heights. We light each level as its own run and plan the power so no cord crosses open wall between them.
• Large Mediterranean-style homes. Where there’s an arched entry or columns, they suit lit garland and pillar wraps. If the roof is tile, say so. We clip to the gutter or the fascia, and nobody walks on the tile.

Attached multi-car garages are the norm, and a lit wreath above the garage doors balances a wide front.

The trees are the real opportunity. A mature trunk with its main limbs wrapped can outshine the roofline, especially where branches hide the eaves from the street. We wrap by hand, fasten with ties and never put a staple in bark. Very tall canopies have limits, and we’ll tell you from the photos how high a wrap can sensibly go. More on that is on our tree wrapping page.

Lots are large, many with room for a pool, and the ground isn’t level. On a sloped driveway, stake lighting traces the edge, set back from sprinkler heads. If your lot backs toward Hinkle Creek Nature Area, Lew Howard Park or Lake Natoma, the rear of the house may be seen from open ground, so add a photo of it. The neighborhood sits south of Oak Avenue Parkway, and much of it is quiet streets and cul-de-sacs where houses face each other closely. There, and on the walking routes to Carl H. Sundahl Elementary, we keep cords off the sidewalk and set timers to switch off at a sensible hour.

We work all over Folsom, including Los Cerros, another big-tree neighborhood.

The lights come with us, and so do the ladders. On a slope, climbing is the part you should least want to do yourself. A timer runs the display. If part of it goes dark, one call to (916) 570-9568 puts your house back on the next day’s route. January is when we return, strip the house and trees of every strand, and load it on the truck.

With this much canopy, gutters fill. If yours are full on install day, we’ll tell you before we clip to them.

Does ARCMA have any say over lights on my own house?

ARCMA maintains the parkway along American River Canyon Drive and has said it does not enforce the CC&Rs on individual streets. We found no association-enforced holiday lighting dates for homes, but read your own street’s CC&Rs to be sure.

Can you light the parkway trees or fence in front of my house?

No. The parkway strips and fences belong to ARCMA, so we stay on your lot.

My house is on a slope with a steep driveway. Can you still work on it?

In most cases, yes. Send photos of the driveway and the ground below the eaves so ladder placement is settled before install day.

How tall a tree can you wrap?

It depends on the tree. Trunks and main limbs are the usual scope, and we’ll tell you from your photos how far up is practical.