Outdoor Lighting Installation

Outdoor wall lights are an effortless and subtle lighting solution that can greatly enhance your outdoor living areas. Installing wall lights to the exterior of your home will add beauty and security but will uplift the value of your home greatly. So why not light up your front door or porch with a lantern type fitting either side of the door, it creates a warm and welcoming effect for guests. One popular choice with our customers is the up/down wall bracket light, these lights can flank on either side of the doorway or just one, preferably on the side of the door knob, this will allow homeowners to see we’re the key needs to go.

As long as you have a wall and wiring this type of lighting can be installed anywhere providing you with a warm and ambient light. A modern pendant light hanging over the centre of your doorway from a chain or wire chord radiating light in a side-ways and downward direction. A vintage type pendant hanging on your wall over the centre of your doorway, leaving you with more head space if hanging a pendant light from the ceiling. Always consider a pendant lights size before purchasing, a small fitting might get lost in a large door entry while a large pendant might dominate a small door entry.

There are endless type of exterior downlights on the market today, recessed or surface mounted, round or square, directional or straight. Exterior downlights can look great under the eaves, front porch or even under an out-door awning. We believe that warm light should be installed in the exterior of your home, we have seen too many times cool white as the chosen light, making the exterior of your home way brighter than it should be. Warm light will give you a relaxed and natural feel making it vibrant and easier on the eye.

The most important thing about purchasing exterior downlights is having the most suited IP rating, downlights these days are mostly IP 44 but IP54 and IP66 can also be purchased. The lumens of your downlight will measure brightness and should never be compared to the wattage of the downlight. A 60 watt incandescent bulb would be identical to a 8 – 12 watt LED downlight having 800 lumens for the same amount of illumination. The beam angle is also important for the outdoors, a wide beam angle of about 50 to 65 degrees normally works, giving you what is known as the moonlighting effect, making it look like the moon.

No matter what type of dwelling you live in, outdoor lighting is a must in our opinion. Here are some
of the advantages of outdoor lighting:

Enjoyment
Why not extend your living areas into your garden space. Lighting around decking and patios can add attractiveness and comfort into those cool dark evenings. The ambience of outdoor lighting and seating can be enjoyable and alluring, especially after a long day and the attractive lighting is adding to the outdoor decor. Try and purchase LED lighting for these types of areas that are built out from your home, as mosquitoes and other insects can be attracted towards the incandescent lighting.

Safety
Outdoor lighting will help to increase visibility and decrease the chances of someone falling or tripping over. By strategically installing lighting around your home, the lighting fixtures will light up various paths in and around your property. This will also enhance the appearance of your home, adding great value along the way.

Security
They say criminals prefer to do the crime in areas that are not well lit up and outdoor lighting with motion sensors attached are a great way of deterring unwanted guests. The dusk to dawn or PE cells would be another good barrier for unwelcome guests.

IP = Ingress Rating
The outdoor lights you purchase should have an IP rating sticker attached, if not, it could mean your light is not protected against liquids or objects. The IP will be followed by 2 numbers indicating the levels of protection the light fitting has against solids and liquids. The first number will show how much protection the light has against objects, objects could be from anything up to 50 mm right down to dust particles. The second number will indicate how much protection you have against liquids, which can range from drops, spray, splash or even direct contact through a nose/jet and to be even immersed in water

IP rating for outside lighting will be anything from IP44 to IP56 and in some cases you might have IP65 or IP66, LED battens, weatherproof strip lighting and bollard lighting would be good examples of this. An IP68 rating where a light is immersed in water might be in the form of a pond light.

Who said you cant use LED floodlights in your home? not only will you see LED floodlights in commercial and industrial use but you will see this type of lighting illuminating home driveways, patios, gardens and porches. A flood light installed over the center or side of a garage door is the most likely choice of location in a residential home, illuminating your driveway in the process.

Before the installation process takes place, work out if there are going to be any obstacles in the way, drain pipes, gutters or even doors and windows are obvious examples of this. Having the right placement is a very important factor so too is the angle and height as this will make a big difference in terms of how the lumens are distributed out into your space. Lumens play a big factor in how much light you will have, lumen size can range from 700lm to 20,000lm with the higher end sizes most suited for car parks and large industrial buildings. A 1500lm to 2500lm floodlight will sure be good enough for your driveway.

The biggest advantage of the LED floodlight is their superior lifespan over any other halogen or incandescent floodlight. Halogen or Incandescent globes can have a lifespan of up to 2000hrs, whereas an LED floodlight’s lifespan can be 30,000 or more plus hours. Be mindful of your neighbour, nuisance lighting can be reported to your local council and a complaint can be made to have the light removed or placed in a different location. Also another little hint about LED floodlights, they are no good for garden lighting. Lighting for your garden needs to be more subtle not making your garden look like its in daylight 24/7.

Sensor floodlights are the way to go. Knowing you don’t need to flick a switch every time you need light to see we’re your going and the worry you might have in the case of leaving the light on are all added bonus’s to having a sensor. P.E Cells or Dusk to Dawns Sensors are also another option of timing lighting, the light works when it becomes dark and switches off on sunrise.