Landscape Lighting Installation

A lot of time and effort goes into creating and maintaining a beautiful landscape that will attract the attention of your neighbors and passersby. Landscape lighting allows you to show off the fruits of your labor even after the sun goes down – and enhances the nighttime safety of your property. Strategically placed lighting can also highlight the most prominent architectural features of your landscaping to maximize your property’s aesthetic appeal. In this post, we’ll explore the various types of outdoor & landscape lighting and provide some helpful installation tips.

Table of Contents

• Types of Landscape Lighting
• Planning Your Layout
• How to Install Low-Voltage Landscape Lighting

Types of Landscape Lighting

The wide range of available outdoor lighting types enables you to create a customized look that will bring out the best in your property’s appearance and meet your nighttime safety needs:

• Path: Path lights are the most common type of outdoor lighting and are used to illuminate walkways and more hidden areas of a landscape.
• Deck: Deck lighting increases nighttime visibility on decks and patios, as well as the stairways that lead to them.
• Well: Well lights are ground-level lighting fixtures that illuminate flowerbeds and can be placed at the base of trees or shrubbery.
• Spotlights/floodlights: Spotlights are typically used to provide targeted lighting that highlights specific landscaping features. Floodlights cast a wider beam than spotlights, making them the better option for illuminating a larger feature. Because floodlights cover a wider area, they are also used for security purposes.
• Post Cap Lights: These lights are placed atop deck posts or railings for decorative and/or safety purposes.
• Wall lights: Wall-mounted outdoor lights and sconces can highlight specific features of a structure and provide ambient lighting that enhances safety while walking at night.

Planning Your Landscape Lighting Layout

Careful planning of your landscape lighting layout ensures you will purchase the right types of lights for your needs and place them in locations where they provide the maximum effect. Begin by defining your purpose for installing outdoor lighting, whether it’s to add ambiance, increase safety or highlight specific landscaping features. Also, consider how much money you want to spend and the amount of effort you’re willing to expend on a DIY lighting installation.

Many homeowners find that making a sketch of their property can serve as a helpful landscape lighting installation guide, especially for determining the best locations for light placement. Your sketch should include the footprint of your home and all landscaping features such as trees, gardens, flowerbeds, walkways, shrubbery and decks. This will give you a better idea of the features you wish to highlight, as well as the types of outdoor lights you will need for the job.

How to Install Low-Voltage Landscape Lighting

Many homeowners are discovering the benefits of using low-voltage outdoor lighting for their nighttime landscaping illumination needs. Low-voltage lights combine maximum brightness with remarkable energy efficiency – they cost much less to operate than traditional outdoor lighting products. The low-voltage feature introduces the all-important element of safety by reducing the risk of shock, which bodes well for do-it-yourselfers who are attempting to execute a landscape lighting project for the first time.

Low-voltage lighting systems are easy to install – the process typically takes less than an hour to complete. The system consists of a power pack (transformer) that serves as the energy source, a low-voltage cable that carries the electricity and a low-voltage lamp that produces the light.

The installation steps include mounting the transformer – review the manufacturer’s instructions regarding how to install the landscape lighting transformer – connecting the cable to the transformer, laying out the cable in accordance with your lighting plan and connecting the lighting fixture to the cable. While these steps are possible to carry out on your own, it is highly recommended that you work with a professional electrician to install any kind of lighting.

Contact Lippolis Electric for Your Outdoor Lighting Needs

Lippolis Electric is an experienced landscape lighting solutions provider serving Westchester County, NY. We can assist you in designing your landscape lighting layout and selecting the best lighting products for your needs and budget. Contact us for more information or to arrange for a free landscape lighting installation estimate today.