North Highlands Christmas Light Installation

Roofline and yard Christmas lights for North Highlands, beside the old McClellan base.

North Highlands grew up next to McClellan Air Force Base. Tracts like McClellan Meadows date from 1953, with three-bedroom, one-bath homes of around 1,400 square feet. The community passed 21,000 people by 1960 and 31,000 by 1970, and most of the housing along Watt Avenue, Elkhorn Boulevard and Walerga Road is from those two decades. The base closed after a 1995 federal decision and is now McClellan Park.

These are small single-story houses with low-pitched composition roofs, short rooflines and a one-car or two-car garage facing the street. Lots are small. A front roofline, garage gable and two side returns take a short visit.

C9 LED bulbs clip to the gutter lip. Where a gutter is missing, the clip goes on the shingle edge. The line is cut to each run, so it sits in a straight row along the eave instead of sagging between nails. We plug into the garage outlet or a front porch outlet and set a timer at the plug.

Many of these homes have had a tree in the front lawn since the 1950s. If it covers the house from the street, we wrap it in a spiral with a set number of strands per foot and light the roofline behind it.

Hillsdale and Larchmont Village on the east side have later homes, some two-story, with longer rooflines. Two-story work is done from ladders along the upper eave, and we generally light the upper roofline plus the garage gable because that is what shows from the road. Stake lights along the walk, lit shrubs under the windows and a warm-white pre-lit wreath at the door are the usual additions on either kind of house. Pick warm white or multicolor.

Christmas Light Brothers is based in Folsom, about 17 miles southeast by Interstate 80 or Madison Avenue. North Highlands, Foothill Farms and Antelope sit on one route. Quotes are free and usually need no visit: send the address, stories, roof type and the parts you want lit, with a sidewalk photo. Call (916) 659-6549. The season runs early November through December. Takedown is in January, and your lights go into storage until the next one.

My house is small. Is it worth lighting?
A short roofline with a wrapped tree and a wreath is a complete look on a 1950s tract house. Send the address and we quote it.

What if a strand goes out?
Call. Mid-season repairs are part of the service, and we come back to swap the bad section.

Nearby: Antelope, Foothill Farms, Rio Linda, Citrus Heights.