Summer Lighting: Change Your Outdoor Lighting With The Help Of Our Experts

As summer arrives in Red Deer, you may be spending more time outdoors than usual with family and friends enjoying the mild weather. Even with the longer daylight hours, your gatherings may conclude well after dark. Therefore, now is the perfect time to hire an electrician in Red Deer to install new outdoor lighting.

What Does Outdoor Lighting Do For Your Property?

One of the most important reasons to have outdoor lighting is safety. When the sun goes down, it becomes harder for people walking around on your property to see where they are going, especially if they are not very familiar with it. This increases the likelihood that your guests could have an accident and injure themselves by tripping over something or running into something. Adequate outdoor lighting on porches, decks, and walkways helps people see where they are going and avoid injury.

However, outdoor lighting doesn’t have to be merely functional. It can be decorative as well. Strategically installing outdoor lighting on your home itself can turn your entire exterior into an elaborate decoration. You can also use lighting to highlight certain decorative aspects of your yard, such as a sculpture, a planter, or a water feature.

The right lighting can change the character of your outdoor gathering spaces, making them warm and inviting. This can add a festive mood no matter what the occasion and help your guests to relax and enjoy themselves. You and your guests may get more out of an evening’s entertainment because of the lighting alone.

It’s not just the light that can be decorative but the fixtures as well. A few options for outdoor light fixtures include hanging from the porch ceiling, extending out from the wall, or being mounted on a column or post. The right light fixture can help to accentuate an attractive architectural feature of your home. For example, if you have a tall entryway, a hanging light can prevent it from looking too empty.

Some fixtures combine other functionalities with the lights. For example, you may be able to enhance a porch with a fixture that combines lights with a ceiling fan. This can help the porch feel more comfortable when the weather outside is hot.

What Is Involved in Installing Outdoor Lights?

The steps involved vary depending on where on your property you intend to install the lights. For example, if you install landscape lighting, it is necessary to dig a trench where you will lay the cables and then bury them. Before you can carry out that step, you have to call your local utility company to have them identify the buried cables. However, both of these steps are unnecessary if you are installing a fixture on the house itself.

The voltage your outdoor lights use also affects the installation. Like most electrical appliances in your home, line voltage lights operate at 120 volts. They are hardwired into your home electrical system but may require the installation of new outlets. Low voltage landscape lights operate on only 12 volts. They need to have a transformer hooked up to the home’s system that lowers the voltage to a level they can use.

You’ll probably want to turn the outdoor lights on and off from inside the house. If so, you need to wire the light fixture to a switch inside the house.

Why Do You Need Expert Installation and Electrical Repair Services?

When working with electricity, there is always the risk of a shock, which can be very dangerous. Add to that the fact that these systems can be very complex. If not installed correctly, they may not work correctly and could pose a risk of property damage. For these reasons, it is important to leave the outdoor light installation and electrical repair services to our Certified ESA Electricians at Handyman Connection in Red Deer. Contact us today for more details on these services and more.