Spring Light Onto Your Landscape
| by John Keene
With the recent rain and warm weather, your landscape is probably already green and growing. And while the weather is still cool, spending more time outdoors is limited only by the amount of daylight available.
You can easily illuminate the special features of your home and garden with outdoor lighting that will extend the hours you can enjoy your patio, pool or deck and also improve security and drive-up appeal.
Many homes include simple incandescent flood lighting. These "flood light" fixtures are typically at the foundation shining up on the front of the home or at the eaves shining down around the back of the home. Several problems occur with incandescent lighting.
First, the fixtures are often installed with little awareness of the overall lighting design or desired effect. Second, the bulbs are usually exposed to the viewer and draw the eye to the bulb rather than illuminating the whole scene. Third, these bulbs do not throw the light very far. Bright spots appear on the house close to the bulbs then fade very quickly. Have you ever been in the back yard and then looked back toward the house at the floods? It's so bright, it's almost painful!
Professionally designed landscape lighting is the solution. There are two main types of lighting often used outdoors and each type creates very different effects.
Mercury vapor lighting is mounted in large trees shining down towards the ground creating a "moonlight" effect. The light has a slight blue tint and creates a very soft illumination. Mercury vapor lights can also be used to "up" light trees and architectural elements. The disadvantage of this kind of lighting is the high cost of installation and high cost of fixtures and replacement bulbs although bulbs have very long lives averaging 20,000 hours of use.
Another challenge is if the fixtures are placed in trees that don't keep their leaves all year -- you have very bright bulbs in the trees during the winter season. The other type of outdoor lighting is called "low- oltage" lighting. You can purchase and install these lights yourself from your favorite home improvement store but the quality of these fixtures is very poor and the light output is minimal. You'll notice "runway lights" along flowerbeds and sidewalks in many neighborhoods that are typical of the do-it-yourself installations.
A professional-grade low-voltage lighting system solves all of these problems by using high quality quartz halogen bulbs that produce 8 times the lumens of a traditional incandescent bulb, watt-for-watt. It will provide optimal lighting with a minimal number of fixtures to light up your home, your landscaping and your trees. The light produced by quartz halogen bulbs is a very natural white that illuminates without coloring. It carries a long distance, providing even illumination for the tallest homes.
A professionally designed and installed low-voltage system is your best value for quality lighting. Make sure the company you choose can come and demonstrate the lighting effect at your home in the evening. Inquire about warranties, service plans, timers, experience and training. The transformers should have a lifetime warranty and the fixtures should come with at least a 10- year warranty. The timer should allow remote operation of the lights and not "lose time" during a power outage. A national company has lots of experience lighting tens of thousands of homes and professional training to share that expertise. You probably don't want someone learning how to install lighting on your home!
Most companies doing landscape lighting are small, local operations that purchase fixtures from a few lighting manufacturers offering the same items. Make sure you focus on the lighting effects created by the fixtures rather than the fixtures themselves. You want the fixtures to blend into the landscape during the day and create the right effects at night without drawing attention to them. A national company has the broad experience to design and install a lighting system that creates the effects you want and the continuity to make sure you are happy with your investment for years to come.
About John Keene: Prior to tackling dark homes and landscaping John worked in a variety of high tech industries in software architecture and management roles, often late at night. Outdoor Lighting Perspectives is the largest landscape and architectural lighting company in the nation with over 70 locations and more than 60,000 customers. They manufacture their own fixtures in Nashville, TN. John and his team provide free design consultations and evening demonstrations as well as service and support of all types of lighting systems for homes and small businesses.
Outdoor Lighting Perspectives was founded in 1995 and launched in Dallas in 1999. The Dallas office services the entire DFW metroplex area from its office in Plano. Outdoor Lighting Perspectives has the products and experience to give you the Ultimate Lighting ExperienceŽ