Outdoor lighting can beautify your home and make it safer as well. Putting in outdoor lighting is relatively easy. To decide what type of lighting you like the most, use an Internet search engine or visit a hardware store to see what's available.
There's nothing fancy, extraordinary or expensive here. You can install low voltage lighting that can enhance the outlines of your house while providing safety illumination at night. They are also excellent deterrents for would-be trespassers as outdoor lights can often indicate that there are people inside the house.
The following tips can help you if you decide to install outdoor lighting.
* Decide how much you can afford to spend. As with any project, you will want to shop around to get the best value for your money. Landscape designers, hardware stores, and the Internet are all great places to seek advice. They will also be helpful in deciding what kind of lighting you will need and where to place individual fixtures.
* Install low voltage lighting wherever possible. They are low-current as well and will provide outdoor illumination all through the night with just incremental burden to your electric bills. Low voltage garden lights come in kits sold at regular home improvement or hardware shops and come with a built-in transformer and timer.
* Pick the appropriate lights for backyard structures. One common type of outdoor lighting can be placed on shrubbery or small trees. You may want to illuminate the shapely bushes that guard your doorway or your prized rose bed. For most projects, 5 or 7 watt bulbs will be adequate, but you'll want to make sure you get a powerful enough transformer to handle the load.
* Ensure that you document your DIY initiative with a schematic diagram. This will help guide you with the installation and to assist you in future repairs. Include in the diagram the power requirements, light bulb specifications and their exact location in your backyard.
* Be prepared. Before you head off to the hardware store to buy all your equipment, make sure you know exactly what you need. There's nothing worse than getting to the store only to find that you don't know how many bulbs you need or how long your cables should be. Know your power specs so you get the correct cables.
* Get your lawn ready for a makeover. Most outdoor lighting sets contain a stake which will need to be driven into the ground. Soften the earth in that area of your lawn by watering it beforehand. Next, make sure that the places you plan to put light receptacles are cleaned out and ready. It will also help to lay out the cable you will need, leaving plenty of extra length on the transformer end.
* Automate the lighting. The worst thing would be to realize you haven't turned on the lights or to wake up in the middle of the day to see the lights are still on from last night. You can have outdoor lighting transformers that have sensors that can turn on the lights when darkness creeps in and turn them off at sunrise.
There's nothing fancy, extraordinary or expensive here. You can install low voltage lighting that can enhance the outlines of your house while providing safety illumination at night. They are also excellent deterrents for would-be trespassers as outdoor lights can often indicate that there are people inside the house.
The following tips can help you if you decide to install outdoor lighting.
* Decide how much you can afford to spend. As with any project, you will want to shop around to get the best value for your money. Landscape designers, hardware stores, and the Internet are all great places to seek advice. They will also be helpful in deciding what kind of lighting you will need and where to place individual fixtures.
* Install low voltage lighting wherever possible. They are low-current as well and will provide outdoor illumination all through the night with just incremental burden to your electric bills. Low voltage garden lights come in kits sold at regular home improvement or hardware shops and come with a built-in transformer and timer.
* Pick the appropriate lights for backyard structures. One common type of outdoor lighting can be placed on shrubbery or small trees. You may want to illuminate the shapely bushes that guard your doorway or your prized rose bed. For most projects, 5 or 7 watt bulbs will be adequate, but you'll want to make sure you get a powerful enough transformer to handle the load.
* Ensure that you document your DIY initiative with a schematic diagram. This will help guide you with the installation and to assist you in future repairs. Include in the diagram the power requirements, light bulb specifications and their exact location in your backyard.
* Be prepared. Before you head off to the hardware store to buy all your equipment, make sure you know exactly what you need. There's nothing worse than getting to the store only to find that you don't know how many bulbs you need or how long your cables should be. Know your power specs so you get the correct cables.
* Get your lawn ready for a makeover. Most outdoor lighting sets contain a stake which will need to be driven into the ground. Soften the earth in that area of your lawn by watering it beforehand. Next, make sure that the places you plan to put light receptacles are cleaned out and ready. It will also help to lay out the cable you will need, leaving plenty of extra length on the transformer end.
* Automate the lighting. The worst thing would be to realize you haven't turned on the lights or to wake up in the middle of the day to see the lights are still on from last night. You can have outdoor lighting transformers that have sensors that can turn on the lights when darkness creeps in and turn them off at sunrise.
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