When it comes to home design, many homeowners put a lot of emphasis on their indoor lighting. This is because the lighting affects everything from the look of the home design to the function. However, it’s important that you don’t neglect your outdoor lighting in the process.

Your outdoor lighting is just as important as your indoor lighting. It helps improve the curb appeal of your home, improves the safety of your outdoor area and helps make your home more secure.

The following are a number of tips and ideas to help you design your home’s outdoor lighting.

Patio or Deck Lighting

If you have a patio or deck outside of your home to enjoy, then you’ll want to make sure it’s lit properly so that you can use it at night. There’s a certain balance that you have to strike when lighting your patio or deck space.

If you’re like many homeowners, then you may use your patio or deck to entertain guests from time to time. This means that the lighting has to provide everyone with enough light to see their way around safely.

It also needs to provide a certain ambiance, which can be difficult if you over light the area, which in turn can cause distracting glares. You can use strip lighting on the steps of your patio or deck as well as around the edges.

Cap lights, which are placed on the posts of your deck, are also excellent choices. To create a really inviting atmosphere, consider stringing small LED lights above the patio space.

Another great way to add ambiance is to strap light fixtures onto nearby trees.

Walkway Lighting

Walkway lights provide safety for anyone that walks up to your home during the nighttime. The last thing you want to happen is for you, family, friends or guests to trip and fall because they can’t see where they are going.

It also provides a pleasant aesthetic value to your outdoor area as well as making your yard easier to see – thereby making your home more secure. There are a number of choices that you can make when it comes to deciding on the fixtures that you want to use.

If you want something relatively subtle and unobstructed, then path lights, which are short and low to the ground, are perfect for your needs. If you want to make a little more of a statement leading up to your home, try using lanterns that hang off of posts. These are, of course, just a couple of options to choose from.

When installing your light fixtures along your path, make sure that they do not face one another on opposite sides. What will happen is that one part of your walkway will be covered completely in darkness while another part will be over lit.

Instead, stagger your fixtures. The fixtures on each side should be roughly 8 to 10 feet apart from one another. You should also avoid using high-wattage bulbs. You don’t want a distracting glare emitting from your walkway.

Additionally, when you lay out the cable for your light fixtures, make sure you run them through gravel or flowerbeds instead of grass, which will lead to issues with trimming and mowing.

Landscape Lighting

If you take great care to make your landscape look beautiful, then you should make sure that you are showing it off during the nighttime as well as during the day.

The one thing that you’ll want to be careful of is creating too much light pollution. You should use just enough light to highlight some of your landscape’s beauty and to make your outdoor area safe from potential prowlers.

The last thing you want to do is over light the area to the point where your neighbors are distracted as they attempt to sleep.

There are a number of different ways that you can go about lighting your landscape. If you have any walls or steps around your landscape, you can use strip lighting or recessed lights to highlight the architecture.

Using small fixtures to up-light certain features in your yard is a also an excellent idea. You can create a stunning atmosphere by up-lighting choice trees, bushes or flowerbeds.

Security Lighting

The way you light your home’s outdoor space is integral to improving your home security. You want to provide your outdoor space with enough light to scare away potential thieves without contributing to light pollution. There are several ways that you can accomplish this:

• Motion sensors – Installing lights around the exterior of your home that run on motion sensors is a great way to light up an entire area – but only if the fixture detects motion in that area. It will turn automatically off after a short time. This helps prevent the outside area of your home from being lit up 24-7, but will also alert anyone in the neighborhood of potential burglars immediately as well as scaring off any intruders.
• Timers – You can place a few smaller lights around your home that are on throughout the night, but that will turn off automatically depending on how you set the timer. This way you aren’t wasting energy if you sometimes forget to turn your lights off manually.

Keep these tips and ideas in mind when you design your home’s outdoor lighting in order to improve your home’s curb appeal, safety and security.  See more about our lighting installation services.

During the hot, humid summer months, few things are more relaxing than a cool swimming pool.  To maintain the tranquility of pools, spas, and hot tubs, safety considerations are vital.

Most people take into account the common dangers of UV radiation, injuries from slipping on wet decks and concrete, and the threat of drowning.

However, there is another little-known risk to consider: the improper grounding and bonding of your swimming pool.

Metallic objects attached to your swimming pool – such as rails, ladders, and brackets for lighting fixtures – can be a shock hazard if improperly bonded. Like all electrical wiring and fixtures, those around a pool should be properly grounded for the safest experience.

What is Swimming Pool Bonding?

Image via http://www.diychatroom.com/

When considering swimming pool bonding, it’s important to become familiar with the concept of equipotential bonding.

According to the National Electric Energy Testing Research and Applications Center of the Georgia Institute of Technology, an equipotential grid is vital to establish an electrically safe environment for your pool, spa, or hot tub.

Proper equipotential bonding involves the connection of metallic pool components with a bare copper wire. This causes such elements to possess the same potential.

Without proper swimming pool bonding, your body can complete the circuit between areas of differing potential, resulting in a potentially deadly shock.

5 Components of Pools that Require Proper Bonding

According to Erico.com, the National Electric Code (NEC) “requires bonding of all the following metallic parts in a permanently installed swimming pool with a #8 AWG solid or large conductor.”

All metal parts must also be connected to a bonding grid covering the entire contour of your pool.

1. Hand Rails, Ladders, Diving Boards, and Drains.

Every swimming pool contains some form of these particular fixtures. For durability, these structures are often made of metal.

In swimming pool bonding, a conductive path between such metal objects is necessary. When emerged in a pool, the last thing anyone wants is to become the completion of an electrical circuit.

2. Underwater Lighting Fixtures.

It is important to connect all lighting fixtures to your pool’s equipotential grid. The point of a lighting fixture is to illuminate your pool at night, not cause a potentially deadly shock.

3. Decks and the Reinforced Metal of Your Pool’s Shell.

Certain types of pool shells are allowed in equipotential bonding grids. These include pools with welded or bolted walls, and pools utilizing reinforcing steel.

It is also important to connect your deck to the equipotential grid, particularly for a concrete deck with no reinforcing metal.

4. Electrical Equipment Associated with Your Pool.

All pools contain a multitude of electrical equipment for both convenience and proper functionality. Pumps, automatic covers, water heaters, and other such equipment must be bonded to the equipotential grid to keep your pool safe.

5. Any Metal Structures – Such as Conduits or Window Frames – Within 5 Feet of the Pool Wall.

Simply bonding the metallic structures directly connected to your swimming pool isn’t enough. After exiting your pool, your body is still wet, causing a reduction of body resistance.

Touching nearby metallic structures can also result in a shock. As stated by Mike Holt of Ecmweb.com, components five feet horizontal to your pool wall and twelve feet above the pool’s water level require bonding.

Find a Professional Electrician You Can Depend On

The last thing anyone wants while enjoying their pool in the summer is to receive a potentially life-threatening shock. Conductive Electrical Contracting is here for you.