Norfolk Landscape Lighting Experts
Why should the setting sun mean you can’t enjoy your back yard? Humanity has long since conquered the darkness, and if you want to experience the beauty of your garden at night, you can install an outdoor lighting system. In addition to letting you enjoy the outdoors after dark, such a system can improve your home’s safety by:
- Illuminating paths and steps so no one trips.
- Lighting up doorways and garages to ensure the entrances are clear.
- Deterring would be criminals from their trade.
- Giving off an air of safety to potential guests.
To head off potential accidents, consider installing a traverse lighting system. This type of lighting is so named because it illuminates steps and paths, thereby making it easier to traverse the area at night. Even if you know where everything is, this kind of lighting is useful for visitors and guests, since they’re likely not intimately familiar with the distance between the steps on your deck. It’s also handy because you might not be able to see something that was dropped on the path.
If it’s in your budget, you might also want a set of flood lights. When rigged up to a motion sensor, these powerful lights can turn a dark entrance into a brightly lit space, which has been known to deter potential intruders. Nipper Electric has technicians that can solve all your security and traverse lighting needs, and we do so at transparent and fair prices.
Landscape Lighting Design for Entertaining
Want to use your yard for entertaining? Try some ambient lighting. These soft lights will allow your guests to see one another, without blinding them with overly bright bulbs or poor placement. And if you’re looking to entertain year round, we even have heating lamps to keep the area unseasonably warm. With a bit of feature lighting, you can highlight the best parts of your yard. Think about how you might use or benefit from the following:
- Accent Lighting or Spotlighting – Highlights a particular feature, such as a statue or a tree.
- Spread-lighting – Illuminates low to the ground features, such as a shrubbery.
- Cross-lighting – Opposing lights display all the nooks and crannies on a particular feature.
- Shadowing – A light behind the feature casts a brilliant shadow.
- Silhouetting – Lights positioned underneath the feature give it full illumination.
In addition to the above, Nipper Electric can install underwater lighting to highlight your yard’s best features.
Landscape Lighting Water Features
Working with underwater lighting is best left to a professional, but the beauty provided is well worth the expense. Let us run through your circuitry and outlets to make sure they’re good for the job and get the waterproofed, then you can enjoy your pond, waterfall, pool, or whatever other feature at night without any of the safety risks associated with water, darkness, and electricity.
Choosing Energy Efficient Landscape Lighting
After the lighting is all set up, it’s time to choose the bulbs that will work best with your designs. It’s typically a good idea to use a low voltage system, especially if there’s any water involved as this cuts down on the safety risks. Here are some of the prows and cons of Hallogen and LED lighting.
Halogen Lighting
- Give a warm, soft glow that people prefer.
- Bulbs heat up, making them dangerous to have around plant life.
- Must be replaced every eight months to a year.
- Higher running cost.
- More difficult to install.
LED Lighting
- Safer than Halogen lights.
- Have lower operating costs than most bulbs.
- High purchase cost.
- Very long operating life, leading to long term savings.
- Often have a bluish tinge that bothers people’s eyes. Using warm white LED bulbs can avert this issue.
- Very bright for their power consumption.