February 9, 2017
Spring time is fast approaching and our thoughts are moving to outdoor projects. Whether replacing landscaping or just wanting to hi lite existing landscaping, lighting can bring your yard to life at night.
- Path lights are fixtures that direct the light down and are commonly used to light sidewalks or dark pathways, low ground cover, or shorter flowers. They will generally give you a spread of light 6 – 8’ in diameter depending on the mounting height.
- Wall washers are generally used to back light or silhouette small bushes or shrubs, front light or accent light small bushes or shrubs, accent low to ground architectural hi-lights on a building, large rocks or walls.
- Flood lights can be used in many ways as well. Installing next to the outside walls of the house and shining up will light the exterior from ground to roof. Changing the beam degree of the light will change the width of the light as it goes up the wall, a spot type of beam (10*) keeps the beam very narrow and the light brighter and more concentrated. A flood type of beam (35 – 40*) gives a broader wash of light, covering more area. Shining a spot or flood through a tree and onto a wall (without shining in a window) will create a shadow that as the wind blows becomes a piece of living art.
- Transformers are the power supply for many landscape lighting systems. These generally will “transform” the power from 120 Volts (standard house current) to 12 volts. At 12 volts, if you were to nick a wire with a shovel, you will not get hurt. If you were to nick a 120 volt wire with a shovel it could be fatal. There are many switching options available for the transformers, manual on, manual off, would require a switch to turn the power on and off to transformer. A timer built into the transformer would allow you to set the time for the fixtures to come on and turn off. As the days get longer and shorter, this would require maintenance to keep the lights on when you want them and off when you don’t. Then there’s photo eyes that would turn the lights on at dark and off at dawn. If you don’t want the lights on all night, and don’t want the maintenance of a timer only, you could use a combination of photo eye on and timer off. This would turn lights on at dark, and allow you to decide what time the lights would go off.
Landscape lights not only add beauty to the landscape, but also provide safety and security while using only pennies in electricity when using LED lamps. Stop by our showrooms to see the many styles and designs available today.