Home Landscape Lighting
Have you ever been downtown at night, maybe
attending a concert or sporting event and were impressed with the lighting along
a park walk or on a fancy office building? Most of us, at one time or another,
have experienced awe, comfort, serenity or relaxation at the sight of
well-designed landscape lighting. Sometimes lights pointing up at the side of a
tall building or low profile lights under plants along a downtown walkway can
have a very powerful effect on you. Beautiful lighting can completely change
your mood and experience of events around you.
As far as our homes are concerned we tend to think about
outdoor lighting in strictly practical terms. We have a light outside at the
front and back doors and maybe a motion detector triggered light above the
garage door. They are attached to the house or garage and are there just so you
can safely see where you are going when outdoors at night.
But your homes outdoor lighting can be so much more than that. It doesn't need
to be just for seeing things at night. Properly done outdoor lighting can have a
beauty and charm all its own and at the same time provide nighttime safety for
your walkways and garden.
For many years savvy Pennsylvania homeowners have tried to duplicate this beauty
with landscape lighting in the yard around their homes and in their gardens. For
the most part it has not worked out very well for the average homeowner. In the
past most dependable landscape lighting systems were powered by standard
household electricity (120 volt). It had to meet a strict electrical code and
you had to have an electrician do all the installation and hookup. The
connectors, fittings and bulbs all had to be heavy duty, waterproof and
weatherproof. It was too expensive and outside the budget for the average
homeowner. Those homeowners that followed through with all of that often ended
up with a system that didn't look right. A common mistake is to use too many
lights, or put them in the wrong place. You don't want your sidewalk or garden
path to look like an airport runway. So doing it properly often meant hiring a
landscape architect or a contractor who specialized in landscape lighting. Of
course, that pushed the price up even further; and usually outside the reach of
all but the wealthy.
Low voltage landscape lighting (12 to 18 volt), however, has several distinct
advantages. Electrical codes are much less strict and because it is low voltage
you don't need an electrician to install it. You can buy an inexpensive kit and
often install it over the weekend. Because it is easy to install and setup you
can spend more time working on the light locations and lighting design and not
worry so much about hiring a landscape architect to do all that for you. If you
don't like the light locations, you can change it yourself without too much
trouble. You don't need an electrician or designer to move it. One common
problem with low voltage systems 20 or 30 years ago was the durability of the
components. Back then low voltage outdoor lighting systems were often little
more than toys. But today all of that has changed. The do it yourself low
voltage lighting system you buy at your local hardware store is usually not only
affordable, but durable as well.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Lighting
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell
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