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A ranch house hides its front door. The porch sits back under the eave, the posts stand in shadow, and from the street after dark you can’t tell where the entry is. Carmichael pillar wrap Christmas lights fix exactly that. Light the posts and the porch shows up.
Old paint comes first
Paint on a fifty-year-old porch post can be chalky or already peeling, and tape will lift it right off, so tape never goes on painted wood. No nails, staples or screws go into your trim either. A wrap is a spiral of lights wound up the post at an even pitch, snug enough that it won’t slide, and tension does most of the holding. A soft tie at each end finishes it.
If a post is loose at its base or soft with rot, we’ll say so and leave it out. If jasmine or a climbing rose has claimed a column, we wrap loosely beside it and don’t strip the plant back. Tell us what shape your posts are in when you call (916) 999-5158.
Carport posts count too
Some older ranch homes have a carport in place of a garage. Wrapping those posts lights the spot where you step out of the car. The only extra planning is the cord, which lies along the edge of the slab and never across the places you walk or park.
Porch posts are the usual job: the plain square wood posts holding up the front overhang on most single-story homes. Entry columns, round or tapered, sometimes stand on a brick or stone base. We wrap the shaft only. A brick or stone base stays dark and looks better for it.
A timer lights the posts at dusk and switches them off later. Count the carport posts along with the porch posts when you give us the tally.
Phone and photo quotes for Carmichael pillar wrap Christmas lights
Nobody needs to visit. Text or email a porch photo shot from the driveway, or call (916) 999-5158 with a count of the posts, whether they’re square or round, and roughly how tall. A regular porch post and a two-story entry column are different jobs. The contact page takes a photo and a note as well.
We return in January, unwind every post and haul the lights away. Because nothing was fastened into the wood, there’s nothing to patch or repaint. If a wrap slips or goes dark halfway through December, call (916) 999-5158.
Above and between the posts
Posts are the lower half of the picture. Above them, a roofline run across the front eave ties the porch to the rest of the house. Between them, lit garland over the door or down a porch rail fills the gap. And if a tree stands in the front yard, a wrapped trunk repeats the spiral out by the street.
Four places, four kinds of post
The 1970s ranch houses in Del Dayo are long and low, and lit posts on both sides of the door give that wide front a center. Over in Rollingwood, on the Fair Oaks side, the custom homes use a lot of brick, so there we wrap the wood columns and let the brick be. At The Bluffs, the condos above the river in Fair Oaks, a wrap goes only on posts under your own patio cover. The association there wants holiday lighting off by ten at night, so the timer is set to match. Check its current rules, since boards revise them.
Gated Riverwood is a different case. Riverwood’s rules ask that yard decorations seen from the street be small and tasteful, and a pair of wrapped entry posts is about as small and tasteful as lighting gets. Still, the association reviews what the community can see, so ask before we wind anything. We wrote a separate page on holiday lighting in Riverwood.
Asked often in Pillar and Column Wraps
Will a wrap peel the paint on my old porch posts?
It shouldn’t. The lights hold by tension and soft ties, and we keep tape off painted wood because tape is what lifts old paint.
Can you wrap carport posts as well as porch posts?
Yes, they wrap the same way. The only extra planning is the cord, which we keep out of the path of your tires.
How do I get a quote for my posts?
Call or send a photo. We need the number of posts, their shape and about how tall they are. Nobody has to visit to price a pillar wrap.