Outdoor Lighting

When many people think of outdoor lighting, they think of security and safety.  Installing outdoor lighting is a smart safety movie, there’s no doubt about that.  A dusk to dawn to light will keep your whole yard illuminated all night long and discourage any problems or activities that might easier take place in a completely darkened yard.  But security lighting is only one of the many types of outdoor lighting available.  A huge rang of lighting products can be found nowadays, from small solar garden lights to elaborate outdoor lighting networks to give mood lighting to your entire property.

Landscaping lights are a type of outdoor lighting that’s perfect to use to show off particularly beautiful areas of your property. If you want portions to show even after dark, these lights make sure passersby and visitors won’t miss noticing that gorgeous tree or your backyard pond.  Much like effect lighting indoors, they’re designed to illuminate your outdoors and draw the eye to trees and other items in your space
Outdoor lighting designed specially to make sure your flower garden is still visible after dark is often called garden lighting.  Landscape and garden lighting are often very similar, with the garden lighting of course focusing on your flowers and ornamental grasses. They have a soft glow, designed for effect and emphasis rather than the daylight-like illumination you can achieve with security lighting.

Deck or patio lights seem a cross between outdoor lighting that might be sprinkled across your yard and the lights inside your house.  Brighter than landscape lighting, these are design to light up the space for you to use, and are often house in a similar material to your deck or patio to give them a built in look, even if they were added after the construction of the area.

You could choose solar-lighting to light up your walkway or garden path.  This has become a popular choice for many reasons.  It’s the only type of outdoor lighting that doesn’t require wiring or electrical power.  This is a big attraction for some people—no need for an election or contractor to install it.  You simply stick the stakes in the ground and you’re finished. 

The problem with outdoor lighting like solar stakes is that the light doesn’t last.  It draws its energy from the sun and will glow after dark, but only for a short while. Some are designed to glow anywhere from 4 to 6 hours on a full charge, but it takes 6 to 8 hours of direct, full sun to fully charge them.  If it’s been storming all day, for instance, and these outdoor lights haven’t received full sun, they may glow for only a short while after dark, and they probably won’t glow very brightly.

Outdoor, low-voltage lighting is great for enhancing your yard and lighting up your outdoor space.  If you have plans to install standard lighting, be sure to contact your contractor or electrician so the installation will be safe and you can be sure it’s done correctly.