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Your outdoor garden area should receive just as much attention as your home’s interior. This is with reference to aesthetics, functionality, as well as safety.
Clever use of outdoor garden lighting can help transform your space and highlight your garden’s best features. It can also help make your home a much safer place and keep burglaries and intrusions at bay.
Well-planned and properly executed garden lighting can not only enhance your outdoor space but also increase visibility and make it warmer and more beautiful and create the perfect atmosphere.
Whether you want subtle illumination or want to make a statement with your garden lighting, there are several great options to choose from.
Read on to find out more about outdoor garden lighting, the different types of lighting options available, what is included in the installation process, the associated costs, and how it can be used efficiently in homes:
Keeping your garden well-illuminated is just as important as installing lights inside your house and in other areas around the property. Here are all the reasons why:
The most obvious benefit of outdoor garden lights is that they brighten up the area. This allows you to use the space in the evenings when the sun goes down and you can’t rely on sunlight.
Planning a BBQ party or a simple hangout in the garden becomes even easier and more enjoyable if it is done in a well-lit garden. You may choose bright lights for better visibility or go for dimmable lights to create the right ambience and atmosphere.
Every garden has some standout features such as plants, trees, flowers, sculptures, and furniture that you are particularly proud of.
Instead of placing lights all around your garden, you can strategically place a few lights around these standout features to highlight them. A few lights can do wonders and can transform even the most basic garden into a work of art.
A garden can have a significant effect on the market value of your home, and a well-maintained and properly-lit one can help add to the total value of your home.
Good lighting that illuminates all the areas of your home’s exterior, including the garden, goes well with potential buyers and increases the home’s perceived value.
In addition to increasing the value of your property, good lighting can also seriously up your curb appeal. If your garden has pretty lights highlighting its best features, it will make your home stand out from the rest.
Your home is bound the catch the eye of passers-by and the extra curb appeal will also attract more potential buyers, helping you sell your home at a good profit.
Apart from adding value to your property aesthetically, outdoor garden lighting can also benefit you in terms of security.
A properly illuminated garden means that there are fewer shadows and hiding spots for any intruders or burglars trying to case your property.
The idea of having to walk through a well-lit area is likely to put them off as their chances of getting noticed and caught get considerably high compared to a home shrouded in darkness.
As mentioned above, there are several benefits to installing outdoor garden lights which range from increasing your home’s curb appeal to upping your security game.
The good news is that there is a wide variety of lighting options to choose from, with something for everyone’s taste and requirements.
Here are some of the most popular types of outdoor garden lights for you to choose from:
Garden bollard lights are shaped like bollards and are most commonly used to light up pathways in bigger gardens and sometimes driveways as well.
Because of their chunky appearance, they shouldn’t be installed in small areas or they may make the area seem too cluttered.
One thing to be mindful of when choosing garden bollard lights is how they cast their light. While some may illuminate only a certain area, others may offer 360-degree lighting.
Floodlights are, as the name suggests, high-intensity lights that can flood an area with light. One of the most popular types of outdoor light, floodlights are capable of producing a significant amount of light and can offer many benefits to homeowners.
They can be attached to garden walls, fences, or the house itself to light up the area. Due to the amount of energy required to operate these lights, they are almost always connected to the mains.
Floodlights can also be fixed to the ground at an angle to illuminate trees and other highlighting features in the garden.
Spotlights are similar to floodlights but are much smaller in size. Due to their size, they cast a narrower light beam, making them a common choice for highlighting your favourite features in the garden.
Spotlights come in several varieties, with the mains-powered ones being the best in terms of brightness and longevity. You can also get battery or solar-powered ones if you want to use the lights occasionally.
The best thing about spotlights is that they come in several colours and can be used to enhance your garden after dark. Some types can even be submerged in water to highlight the garden water features.
Spike lights are most commonly used for decoration purposes in gardens of all sizes. They are an incredibly flexible form of external lighting and can be repositioned or readjusted very easily after installation.
They can be used to accentuate small trees, shrubs, flower beds, water features, and statues. They can also be used to throw light onto the house and make it look even prettier.
Spike lights are easy to install and don’t require a cement base for mounting purposes. They are limited to soft soil and can be pushed into the soil with minimal effort.
Ever since the advent of smart technology, we have seen an exponential rise in the demand for smart products, and smart lights are no exception.
Smart lights are a great option for outdoor garden lighting as they offer unparalleled flexibility, control, and convenience.
They have the ability to automatically switch on at a specific time during the day or night using timers and can also be connected to smart assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home. You also can control the lights using your phone or laptop, even when you’re away from home.
String lights, also called fairy lights, are small lights on a wire that are a popular choice for decoration purposes. Particularly popular during the holidays to decorate the interior as well as the exterior of your home, they can be used to add some light to your garden as well.
A great choice for when you want to set the right mood, you can find these lights in several colours and blinking settings. They can be hung along walls, on tree branches, or along a pretty hedge.
You can buy the mains-powered ones which have the highest level of brightness or go for battery or solar-powered string lights, both of which are great options for temporary use.
When choosing the right outdoor garden lights, you need to consider a few factors such as:
Before we discuss any of the other factors, you need to think about why you want to install outdoor garden lights in the first place.
If it is to illuminate the entire area, floodlights might be the best option. For highlighting specific features in the garden, spotlights may be the better choice. Similarly, garden bollard lights are perfect for illuminating long pathways whereas string lights are perfect for creating the right ambience.
Like all types of lighting, outdoor garden lights also come in various wattages. The higher the wattage of the light, the brighter they will be. Sadly, this also means that the lights will be hotter and consume more energy.
For lighting up a garden, especially if yours is big, you need to invest in LED lights that consume much less energy while giving the same level of output. They are more environment-friendly and energy-efficient compared to other types of lights such as halogens.
Outdoor garden lights can either be grid-powered, solar-powered, or battery-operated. You can choose any out of the three depending on your level of use and the availability of a reliable power source.
Traditional mains-powered lights generally do not require any additional electrical work to set up and can be directly connected to your distribution board. You can opt for underground or above-ground cabling depending on whether you want the wires to be concealed or not.
Solar lights are an environment-friendly option which requires a separate power setup in terms of solar panel installation and setting up a battery storage system to use the energy later in the night.
The beam angle refers to the light spread of a light fixture. A higher beam angle results in broader coverage whereas a lower beam angle results in narrower coverage.
If you wish to illuminate a larger part of your garden such as large bushes or flower beds, it would be wise to invest in wide-beam angle lights. Narrow beam angles are more suitable for highlighting a subject such as a tree or a sculpture.
You can use a mix of both wide and narrow beam angles to provide even better coverage. Just make sure all the light fixtures have some form of uniformity for better aesthetics.
IP rating stands for Ingress Protection rating which determines the light’s resistance to water and dust. It tells how much water or dust particles can enter the lights without damaging them.
Since garden lights are installed outdoors, they need to be able to withstand the elements and give their proof of durability and reliability.
Some lights are traditional ones that turn on and off using a switch. However, with advancements in technology, you can now control the lights from anywhere in the world using your smartphone.
If you want the added control and convenience of being able to manage your home’s lighting with a simple tap, you should invest in smart lights.
If security is your main concern, you may also install motion sensor lights that automatically switch on as soon as someone steps under or near them. This can be particularly useful when trying to catch intruders as the sensors will literally put them under the spotlight.
You can also integrate your outdoor garden lighting with other security systems such as burglar alarms and CCTV cameras for a more holistic approach to home security.
Outdoor garden lighting installation includes identifying areas that need to be illuminated, choosing the best lights for the purpose, and putting them all together. It is best done by a professional service that has the required skill and experience to work with the fixtures and wiring.
The type and number of lights and the total cable required will depend on the size and type of the area in the garden that you need to cover and the purpose that the lights will fulfil – aesthetics, functionality, security, or all.
Firstly, you need to determine the location of the lights and the best routes to get the wiring and cables in place. Keep in mind the position of fixed and immovable objects such as the trees and work around them. You also need to determine how you’ll be powering the lights if you do not opt for battery-operated ones.
A few things that you need to consider include:
Outdoor garden light installation must be conducted by a professional and certified electrician who is trained to carry out the job safely and most efficiently.
The total cost of installing outdoor garden lights varies depending on several factors such as the number of lights, running metres of cables, any additional electrical work, the complexity of the job, and the labour cost.
The average cost for installing outdoor garden lights ranges between £80 and £500. The labour cost for installing outdoor security lights is typically £150 to £200 per day, but you can expect to pay more if the task is particularly challenging and time-consuming.
We, at Calder Electrical, provide a comprehensive solution for lighting all kinds of properties including residential, commercial, as well as industrial properties.
We understand the unique needs of outdoor garden lighting and are here to provide you with the best ways to not only properly illuminate your property but also make it incredibly energy-efficient.
Our LED lighting services include:
We can survey your property and create a lighting design to see if we can not only reduce the number of light fittings but also make the area reach a lighting level suitable for use.
We can also incorporate motion detectors so that the lights in certain areas of the property are only switched on when movement is detected near them.
We can give you an energy calculation to show your current lighting costs and the estimated costs by upgrading to LED lighting so that you can see how much you will save, normally aiming for a 40% saving.
If you are undertaking a new installation, we can help you create a lighting design suitable for your property’s layout and intended usage. We provide professional LED installation services guaranteed to meet the current wiring regulations.
In addition to this, we also provide electrical testing and maintenance services undertaken by our NICEIC-certified electricians who make sure all your electrical installations meet the current regulations and that all the notifiable work is signed off by the local authorities.
Contact us here or call us on 0800 612 3001 to talk to our leading experts right away!
Photo by Philip Moore on Unsplash
