Serving Tampa & Surrounding Areas You’ve done the hard work: the yard is neatly manicured, the bushes and trees are looking pristine, and everything is perfectly accenting the features you want to highlight in your home. But then night falls and the dark arrives – and the things you want to show off so badly are left to sulk without any light to splash on them when they need it the most. It’s about as close to a cosmetic nightmare scenario as you can get: nothing’s worse than, after spending hours on your yard, knowing your landscape isn’t being utilized as well as it could be.
Maybe dad is the one who has put in the effort to make it all look so great, but he just hasn’t found the time to install proper lighting. With Father’s Day just about here, why not spruce it up for him as a sort of gift to celebrate him? He’d appreciate the thoughtfulness, and it’d enhance the home as well. A win-win, right? Let Home Service Heroes walk you through a handful of tips that will help you become an outdoor lighting aficionado in no time! Our electricians can help you figure out what type of lighting fixtures would work best, and they’ll handle every part of the wiring if you’d prefer not to tackle it yourself.
Knowing the Differences Between Fixtures
As you’re probably aware, there are more than just one or two types of lighting fixtures. In fact, if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, you might install one that doesn’t fit what you’re trying to light as well as others could.
- Downlights: As their name implies, these projected lights below, mimic the effect of moonlight. Useful in tree branches and on higher, recessed areas.
- Bullet: Smaller lights that cast a narrower, high-intensity beam directly at something you specifically want to highlight.
- Wash: Softer, wider spread, usually on a flatter surface – think a wall or fence.
- Garden: These look like tiny umbrellas. Can be used to illuminate their namesake but can also serve as path lights.
- Flood: When you want to cover as much ground as possible, use a floodlight. They project an extremely wide range of light, ideal for highlighting a larger area.
There are obviously more versions of outdoor lighting than this rudimentary list, but these cover most of the more common types you’ll encounter.
Various Tips
Now that you’ve got an idea of what types of lights you’re working with, let’s talk about some ways to maximize their usage.
- Consider using solar energy to power the lights. Depending on what kind you purchase, they may be equipped with panels that absorb energy during the day to power the lights themselves during the darker hours – when they get the most use.
- Try to avoid overcompensating. When you buy a few fixtures that need to be set up close to each other – like when lighting a path – it’s a good idea to install more lights with lesser power output, instead of the other way around. Fewer lights with more powerful bulbs will create pockets of very bright light, with dark spaces in between.
Properly lighting the outdoor features of your home can instantly spruce it up. It can be a quick and easy way to – literally – brighten the look of it up, and Dad will be thankful you did. However, not everyone’s an electrician: installing wiring and accounting for voltage and load can be difficult – but Home Service Heroes will be there to help! Our electricians have the answer to any question you may need, and they’ll be glad to undergo the task for you. Give us a call at (813) 696-3398 and schedule an appointment today!
