Arden-Arcade Christmas Light Installation

Christmas light installation across Arden-Arcade, from the postwar ranch blocks to the estate streets by the American River.

Arden-Arcade is laid out on a grid. Watt, Howe, Fulton and Eastern run north and south. Arden Way, Marconi, El Camino and Fair Oaks Boulevard run east and west. Most of the housing between them was built right after World War II: single-story ranch homes of roughly 900 to 2,000 square feet, low-pitched composition roofs, attached garages and a front lawn with a tree that is now sixty years old.

A single-story ranch is the simplest roofline there is. C9 LED bulbs clip to the gutter lip along the front and both sides, with the line cut to length so every run is straight. A full front takes about the same time as the garage gable alone on a two-story tract house. Power comes from the garage outlet or a porch outlet with a timer at the plug.

South of Fair Oaks Boulevard, toward the river and Del Paso Country Club, the lots get bigger and the houses with them. Sierra Oaks and Wilhaggin have large ranch homes on half-acre and larger lots. Arden Oaks has custom estates on acre lots, some behind gates. Arden Park is mid-century with mature trees over the street.

On these properties the roofline is only part of the job. Long driveways get stake lighting. Oaks and sycamores in the front yard get wrapped in a spiral, trunk and main limbs, with a set number of strands per foot so the wrap reads evenly from the street. Fence lines and hedges along the property edge get their own runs.

Fulton Avenue and Fair Oaks Boulevard are the main commercial streets. Storefront rooflines, entry canopies and the trees in a parking lot are all done on commercial-grade line, and we set the timer so the lights run through business hours and into the evening.

Christmas Light Brothers is based in Folsom, about 18 miles east by Highway 50 or Fair Oaks Boulevard. Quotes are free and usually need no site visit. Send the address, the number of stories, the roof type and the parts you want lit, and add a photo from the sidewalk. Call (916) 659-6549. Installs run early November through December, takedown is in January, and we store your lights until next season.

My ranch house has no gutters on part of the roof. Can you still light it?
Yes. Where there is no gutter, the bulbs clip to the shingle edge instead of the gutter lip. The run looks the same from the street.

Can you light just the trees and skip the roof?
Yes. Tree-only installs are common on the larger lots where the house sits back from the road and the trees are what people see.

Nearby: Sacramento, Carmichael, La Riviera, Foothill Farms.