Outdoor Lighting Options for the Summer

Outdoor lighting provides homeowners with the ability to make their property safe and easier to walk around at night. Not only will you feel more comfortable knowing what’s in your front yard, but you will also add visual appeal to your home too. If you want to improve outdoor safety through lighting, and at the same time add a little character to the outside of your home, then follow along to understand the potential upgrades you can make for outdoor lighting options.

Upgrades

If you’re a homeowner and you have had the same outdoor lighting for a number of years, then you should look into upgrading your property. Sometimes it is nice to add a fresh look or take advantage of a newer, more efficient lighting option. When you upgrade your outdoor lighting, you can also provide your home with better lit walkways and yards for increased safety. Choosing to light outdoor living spaces, installing lighting along pathways, and transitioning to LED bulbs rather than traditional bulbs are just some of the many options you can choose from. Those that decide to transition to LED lighting will reduce their energy bills and spend less money overall since LED bulbs last longer than traditional, incandescent bulbs. Fortunately, LED lights are available in many styles and designs, that way you can use them functionally for more use and decorations.

Landscape Lighting

Landscape lighting provides an opportunity for homeowners to draw attention to their yard or landscape design and exterior features on their house. Landscape lighting, however, should be chosen carefully to ensure that it highlights their property rather than making it look unappealing or uninviting. This involves choosing the right set of lights and deciding where to place them to add the best effects. Overall, landscape lighting includes the following:

• Path and walkway lights: Known as stake lights, these particular lights are usually placed along the sides of pathways and walkways to provide lighting during the nighttime. They add a visual appeal to your home and increase safety.
• Accent lights: These lights are designed to catch the eye and draw people to specific features of a home’s exterior. Accent lights include uplights and downlights, as well as spotlights and well lights.
• Deck lights: Deck lights make deck stairs safer to walk on at night and can also be used to add soft lighting to deck surfaces.

Safety Lighting or Motion Sensor Lights

Safety lighting plays an important role in deterring intruders from invading your home. These lights allow you to feel safer at home, and homeowners can install security and flood lights on certain parts of their home or property. Entrances and driveways are usually the landing spots for these lights, and they are motion sensor, which means they are triggered whenever motion is noticed in a designated area. Even though motion sensors stay on for a short amount of time, they are still very effective at discouraging any intruders from entering your yard or breaking into your home. Here are some tips to keep in mind when choosing safety lighting:

• Choose lights that have enough wattage and are bright enough to cover certain parts of your property where you would like to direct the light to.
• Avoid choosing lights that create deep, shadowy areas where intruders can easily hide in.
• Make sure to avoid placing these lights in areas where they will shine into a neighbor’s windows.

Troubleshooting Outdoor Lighting

When your outdoor lighting is not working properly or the power fluctuates, such as blinking on and off instead of staying on the whole time, homeowners should be able to dissect the problem. Here are a few common outdoor lighting problems you can run into from time to time:

• Bad connections: Over time, connections on outdoor lights can become loose due to weather or wear and tear. These lights can also experience faulty connections if water gets inside them. Homeowners should choose waterproof connections for their outdoor lighting to prevent this problem from occurring.
• Burned out bulbs: LED bulbs tend to last longer, but if you’re using incandescent bulbs and halogen bulbs for outdoor lighting, then they will burn out faster. Depending on how your outdoor lighting system is wired, this can turn into a big problem.
• Corrosion: Corrosion occurs in light sockets when they are exposed to moisture. Most bulbs are hot enough to prevent corrosion from occurring, but it can form when bulbs burn out.

Outdoor lighting can add great visual appeal and increase safety for you and your family when you need it most. Don’t wait until something goes wrong, instead, call Beacon Electrical Services today for outdoor lighting services!