Riverwood Christmas Light Installation

By the time you start thinking about your own place in Riverwood, the neighbors have lit the covered bridge, hung wreaths at the entry and met on the bridge for cocoa. The bar is already set. Riverwood Christmas light installation differs a little from the open streets outside the gate, because here the association looks after most of what you see and has a few words to say about the rest. We can talk you through it at (916) 999-5158.

We read the association’s Rules and Information document, the one adopted in 2016. Its Good Neighbor Policy says holiday decoration use is limited to the holiday period. It doesn’t give dates. It also says yard decorations visible from the street should be small and tasteful, and that exterior light fixtures and decorations the community can see fall under architectural review.

So we won’t tell you a start or end date, because the document doesn’t. If you’re unsure what the board counts as the holiday period this year, ask the management company before we schedule. Boards revise their rules, and the copy we read may not be the latest. Whatever answer you get, bring it to us at (916) 999-5158. We’ll put the lights up inside it and have them down in January.

This matters more in Riverwood than anywhere else we work in Carmichael. The association maintains nearly all the land outside the deeded lots, and the place is heavily wooded with oaks that a Tree Committee looks after. A tree that feels like yours may sit on common ground.

We only do tree wraps on trees that are on your lot, and those get hand-wound strands with no hardware in the bark. Common-area oaks, the entry and the bridge are the association’s to decorate. If the board ever wants help with those, that’s a separate conversation and we’d be glad to have it.

Riverwood has both attached and unattached homes. The attached ones are repainted by the association in its approved colors, Riverwood Taupe, Moss and Bluff Gray. That’s a good reason to be fussy about how lights are fastened. We use clips on gutters and shingle edges and put no tape, staples or screws into painted trim, so nothing is left to explain at the next repaint.

Most roofs here are tri-laminate shingle in an autumn blend. Shingle clips slide under the edge of that kind of roof without lifting it. Roofline lights on an attached home have to make sense next to the neighbor’s wall, so we stop the run at a natural break, like a downspout or a change in the eave, instead of at an invisible property line.

With “small and tasteful” as the standard for yards, we keep the ground-level work quiet:

• Stake lighting along your own front walk, low and evenly set.
• Pillar wraps on entry posts, if your plan has them.
• A wreath on the door or over the garage, lit, so it fits right in with the ones at the gate.
• Lit garland around the door frame or along a railing.

Our garland page shows how that last one is hung without hardware.

Riverwood is residents and guests only. We’ll need you to arrange entry at the gate and kiosk for install day and again for takedown. Let us know if the house is up near Covered Bridge Road or down on Riverbank or Riverknoll, and where a truck can sit without blocking the lane.

Call (916) 999-5158 and say whether yours is attached or detached. Photos of the front, taken from the street, let us see how much of the roofline shows through the oaks and where the light should go instead. We bring all the lights and set a timer so they shut off at a neighborly hour.

We’re a Carmichael crew, and you can read about the rest of our Christmas light work in Carmichael or about nearby Del Dayo, where there are no association rules at all. Questions about the Riverwood rules and how we’d work inside them are best asked by phone. The contact page works too, and if something goes dark mid-season, call (916) 999-5158.

What dates does the Riverwood HOA allow Christmas lights?

The rules document we read gives no dates. It says holiday decoration use is limited to the holiday period, so confirm the current reading with the association and we’ll schedule inside it.

Can you wrap the oak in front of my Riverwood home?

Only if it stands on your deeded lot. The association maintains nearly all land outside the lots, so common-area trees are not ours or yours to decorate.

Will light clips damage the paint on an attached home?

No. We clip to gutters and shingle edges and keep tape, staples and screws off painted trim, so the association’s paint is left as we found it.

How do you get into the community to install?

You arrange guest entry at the gate for the install and for the January takedown. We’ll agree on both days with you ahead of time.