Light up the Night-landscape lighting
KEEP THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT ALIVE BY LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT!
by Pauhl Gazlay& Lance Hans
Almost every city has a neighborhood known for its incredible holiday decorations and lights. Places where cars line up in the evenings to drive around and see the imaginations of homeowners outlined in incredible displays of light. Now, come January, good taste and tradition calls for the shows to be packed up for the year and boxed away until the next holiday season. But wait, beautiful outdoor lighting isn’t just for Christmas any more! The magic of outdoor holiday lighting can continue year round, without complaints from the neighbors. Landscape lighting is a great way to maintain a sense of wonder on your property and extend your living space to the outdoors at the time of year when it is most enjoyable to be outside!
Best of all, the price is flexible! You can go the economy route with a few strands of strategically placed Christmas lights or, for an unforgettable impression have the job done by professionals. Either way is easy. Adding lighting to your landscape will really change the way you feel about your outdoor areas…for the better! Here is some helpful information about the three types of lighting we see the most….
Existing House lighting:
Some of our clients use what they’ve got. Existing spot lights, rotated to highlight shrubs or entranceways are very common. They are usually security lighting that was installed when the home was built, or a wall mounted fixture added to an existing exterior outlet using conduit that runs up an outside wall. This type of lighting is great for keeping the burglars away or for exposing fugitives, but its effect is limited to the area directly below it, and doesn’t make for a very inviting feel. Additionally, one is limited to existing fixtures and outlets. Adding new lights means new electric lines, which means increasing the electrical load on your exterior circuits, thus increasing the likelihood of failure.
While existing flood lights may be the simplest and least expensive way to go, they also give you the least appealing effect on your garden. By the way, the electric company will love you if you keep this type of lighting, as huge outdoor bulbs burn the most energy dollars. If you choose this method of landscape lighting, at least change your bulbs to softer, energy-efficient ones that will not blind your guests as they attempt to walk down the stairs leading from your deck. Also, try throwing in some strands of Christmas lights in lower areas to soften the effects of the bat signal. Christmas lights are also a cheap and easy way to accent a pergola or arbor.
Solar lights: If you are ready to “go solar” here are a few things to keep in mind.
Solar lighting is a double edged sword: spend a little, get a little in terms of light intensity, duration, and product lifespan. Spend a lot and get lots of light from larger batteries and sometimes larger solar panels, probably mounted on your roof. We’ve seen clients who pay higher prices for solar lighting with small panels, but they don’t really last much longer as far as we can tell. There have been some big steps in solar technology recently, but the technology is still filtering down to landscape lighting. But, one real advantage of solar lighting is that there is a one time cost, and no increase in your electric bills. While no pollution is made from the actual energy used, product life spans are short. I wonder how many plastic solar lights and batteries find their way into landfills.
Recharging cells do best in direct sunlight. So, if you have a bright, sunny landscape during the day, you’ll have light for most of the evening. If your garden is full of shrubs and trees, the light may only last a few hours after dark. Then it’s bedtime for everyone who didn’t bring a flashlight with them. Since they rely on our star for their energy reserves, the best place for them to charge is in full sun exposure; usually where you don’t need them during the evening. Personally, I think they do well on open pathways where there’s lots of sun during the day, and lighting the area up all night is not a safety or security issue.
Depending on where they are positioned, outdoor solar lights can take a real beating from UV rays and the weather. With cheaper ones, the materials they are made from, ironically, break down in the direct Sun. Cheap solar lights usually last me a couple of years. When their elements wear out, you’ll have to purchase new ones (you can usually find some on sale). If you want to lower your carbon footprint but don’t want the hassle of moving lights in and out of “direct sun zones” or replacing them every couple of years, think about low voltage lighting.
Low voltage Lighting
This type of light is powered using your home’s existing electrical outlets. A transformer is installed to lower the voltage from your home’s electricity and power more energy- efficient bulbs. In fact, many of the newer technologies in low voltage lighting produce the same amount of light at a tenth of the watts required for traditional halogens. And the better quality products will be warranted for ten years or more. Low voltage lighting can be mounted to any deck or pergola, inserted into flower beds, or screwed into walls. Lighting is always consistent no matter whether it’s sunny or not. A variety of colors and effects can be added to adjust for different moods. The initial cost is about the same as installing new exterior house lighting and lasts far longer than solar luminaries.
Best of all, low voltage lighting can be installed anywhere in your landscape. You can light up a walkway in the back yard or shine down on that shrub that only blooms for a few weeks during the year. Up lighting, down lighting, and path lighting are all possible with low voltage lights. Because the transformer allows you to plug in multiple circuits, you can also add, mix and remove components easily, as your budget and landscaping allow. These are very versatile systems. While everyone has different needs and tastes, after years of seeing and working with the other two choices, I’ve settled on low voltage lighting for my garden. Their one time cost, very low maintenance, and superior effects finally convinced me.
