Landscape Lighting Orlando, FL accentuates the beauty of your home and garden. It also highlights your architectural features and provides safety and security for family, friends, and guests.

To begin, clear the area where you plan to install your lights. Use stakes and twine to mark the yard, ensuring no twigs or leaves will be in the way during installation.

Investing in landscape lighting adds beauty to your home and extends the usability of outdoor spaces into the evening. But it’s important to remember that your lighting needs to be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. If it isn’t, you risk creating an unsafe environment or causing your yard to look unorganized and haphazard. To avoid these issues, use the following best practices when planning and installing your landscape lighting.

Before attempting to design your lighting layout, you should first clearly define your goals and objectives. This will help you decide what types of lights to use and where to place them on your property. For example, if you want to highlight specific plants or architectural features, you’ll need to choose the right lighting techniques. Uplighting focuses light on dark shadows to create drama, while downlighting creates a gentler, more “moonlit” effect. Cross-lighting is another technique that can show off non-uniform shaped features by drawing attention to both sides of the feature.

Once you’ve established your objectives, you should draw a rough map of your yard to guide where the lights will be placed. This will prevent overlapping areas and ensure your light fixture placement is intentional, rather than haphazard. This map will also help you identify which areas require illumination for safety or aesthetic purposes and determine what type of lights to use.

Safety

Landscape lighting illuminates entryways and walkways, deterring trespassing and accidents after dark. Strategically placed motion-sensor lights are also effective for security, triggering light when an intruder approaches the property. Illuminating driveways and patios extends the usable hours of your outdoor spaces, allowing you to enjoy evening gatherings and relaxing dinners in a safe environment.

Well-placed landscape lighting spotlights natural features and unique architectural elements, elevating the look of your property at night. Creating focal points that capture attention and inspire an inviting ambiance elevates your home’s curb appeal and makes it more appealing to buyers.

When installing your low-voltage landscape lighting system, follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully to make proper connections and prevent electrical shock. This is especially important when working with buried lines, which require extra care and patience. Use gel-filled wire connectors designed for outdoor use to protect against corrosion and ensure secure, lasting connections.

Be sure to properly shield fixtures from rain, snow and violent winds. This helps prolong the life of your lights and reduces maintenance. Avoid using too many lights, which can create glare and overwhelm your space. Illuminating trees, unique architectural features, and pathways illuminates your property without overshadowing other areas.

Neglecting to perform regular maintenance on your lighting system can result in functional issues and safety hazards over time. Checking for loose or damaged wiring, cleaning fixtures, and replacing worn-out bulbs is essential to keeping your landscape lighting system bright and inviting.

Function

Adding lighting to a landscape can be an investment that adds value to your home. It allows you to use your outdoor space longer and creates a true destination for gathering after dark. It also helps reduce trips and falls on walkways and driveways by highlighting these areas, which gives your family, friends, and guests greater visibility. It also helps deter potential intruders by eliminating dark hiding spots and illuminating your property with motion-activated lights.

A quality landscape lighting company will consider both aesthetics and function. They will use different techniques to highlight key features of your exterior design and provide safe, functional illumination of pathways, entryways, and focal points like trees or statues. To ensure the proper lighting for your landscaping, a reputable lighting company will perform an on-site walk through of your property to make notes of important areas that need highlighting.

One of the most popular ways to showcase your landscape at night is by highlighting the shape, color, and form of interesting plants or architectural features. Placing spotlights or well lights behind a plant or statue highlights its silhouette and casts shadows in artistic patterns that change throughout the course of the night. It can even reveal unique details that you might have missed during the day.

Adding uplights to the base of a tree can also create a striking impact. This is a great way to show off the unique shape of your front yard trees, or accentuate other dramatic traits, like the multiple trunks of your Pygmy date palm. The soffit of two-story homes can also be highlighted with uplighting, as can the entrance to your home or garage.

Energy-efficiency

A well-designed landscape lighting plan should be as energy-efficient as possible. This helps reduce electric bills and minimizes environmental impact. Choosing LED fixtures, which use up to 70% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs, is an excellent option for eco-conscious homeowners. Solar-powered landscape lights are another sustainable alternative that harness sunlight during the day to illuminate areas at night.

Lights should be positioned carefully to avoid obstructing objects and creating unsightly shadows. Using different lighting techniques such as up-lighting, down-lighting and cross-lighting is also effective at showing off unique aspects of the property. For example, up-lighting highlights dark shadows against a brighter backdrop, while down-lighting creates a gentle moonlit effect on a hardscape or softscape feature. Cross-lighting can really showcase non-uniform shaped features that might not stand out otherwise.

Maintaining the effectiveness of landscape lighting requires regular cleaning and inspections. Keeping leaves and debris away from lights can help prevent overheating and potentially dangerous voltage overloads. It is also important to keep up with bulb replacements, as faulty or dimmed bulbs can significantly reduce lighting quality. Regular maintenance also allows for quick repairs or adjustments that can keep the system functioning properly.

With the right knowledge and skill, a homeowner can transform their outdoor spaces into enchanting nighttime destinations. However, it is a process that takes time and money to complete. That is why many choose to implement landscape lighting gradually, adding in elements as their budget and exterior space allow. Doing so can alleviate stress from a financial and decision standpoint while still achieving dramatic results. This approach also gives homeowners the opportunity to experiment with different styles and approaches before committing to a final solution.

Maintenance

Your landscape lighting is an investment, and like any other investment you need to keep it in good working order. A simple maintenance plan can prevent costly repairs and extend the life of your fixtures.

Re-Check Light Alignment

The adjustment screws on your landscape lighting can loosen over time and may need to be tightened. Adding this task to your spring maintenance schedule is a great way to ensure your lighting is set correctly and will illuminate the desired areas.

Wipe and Clean Fixtures

It’s surprising how fast dirt, debris, pollen and other gunk can accumulate on your outdoor lighting fixtures. A wipe down with a damp cloth can help you restore maximum brightness and clarity to your premium lighting design.

Re-Inspect Wiring

The wiring that runs between your landscape lighting is buried underneath the ground for a reason. This minimizes tripping hazards for your guests and helps protect the wire from animals and weather. However, if the wires become exposed, they need to be inspected and reburied before the ground freezes.

Trim and Cut Back Plants

It is common for plants, bushes and other landscape materials to grow around your lighting fixtures over time. Keeping these plants trimmed and back will help avoid obscuring the fixture or causing it to point in an unwanted direction.

Depending on your system, a remote control can make the job much easier for you. This is a great option for homeowners who do not want to be involved with the technical aspects of resetting and changing the timer settings. A professional lighting company can provide a remote system that will allow you to manage your lights from a smartphone app or other device.