What comes to mind when thinking of landscape lighting? More than likely it is path lights along a front walkway or possible up-lighting a few ornamental trees in your front landscape. These tasks can easily be achieved by a do-it-yourselfer; however it is important to consider other elements prior to sticking in a number of lights.
Most residences have architectural elements that can be accented. This is the first area to consider when creating a lighting plan. Accent lights on a home will provide the back-drop to any lighting that is done in front of that area. Key features to accent would be; a stone facade, columns or pillars on a porch, corners of the home, front door, etc. There also may be other elements on the property that will help illuminate your entertaining areas. This can include steps, deck rails, retaining walls, sitting walls, fire pits, etc.
Another key principle to consider is to try to add depth to a property using lights on trees around the perimeter of your property. By only lighting directly around the home the landscape will feel small at night. Be sure to select a strong fixture (high lumen output) when attempting to up-light large mature trees a distance from your home. Using an LED fixture will help to eliminate voltage drop and still provide great output a distance from your home. Voltage drop is seen when your farthest light is the dimmest. This can be corrected using a multi-tap transformer and a number of installation methods depending upon application.
Does your property have a focal point to light? This is an area where you want a higher intensity of light to showcase the focal point at night. Whether it be a piece of statuary, a waterfall, or a specimen tree, the light output on this element should be the brightest relative to the rest of your property to showcase that element as the focal point.
It is important to not over-light, for example; you would not want to up-light a tree directly in front of a corner of a home that you plan to up-light. The placement of light fixtures is just as important as the placement of shadowed / un-lit areas.
Landscape Lighting can be accomplished using very little power. In many cases an entire front landscape can be lit using the same power as a typical front post light. This is due to the advancement of LED bulbs which are 50-80% more efficient than Halogen Bulbs. The LED bulbs will also last for 10-30 years compared to a halogen that typically lasts for 2 years. For a comprehensive lighting design it is recommended that you contact a lighting professional to create a plan to illuminate your property.
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