Home protection is a top priority for homeowners worldwide. Fortunately, solutions as simple as adding exterior lighting to your home can help deter theft.
In addition to security, proper exterior lighting can also add safety and beauty to your space.
Deterrents
Multiple lighting systems can deter potential robberies and intruders. These individuals work at night for a specific reason – the cover of darkness.
Given the choice between a home or business with active outdoor lights and one without, the target that offers the least amount of potential exposure is the clear choice every time.
While any amount of exterior lighting will help, if you really want to improve security while making your landscape safer for your family and invited guests, proper lighting is a must.
- Floodlights are an excellent option for residential and commercial spaces. The length of illumination is vital because a single floodlight will brighten up driveways, decks, entryways and more. In addition, IP65-rated solutions protect against water damage and offer the best resistance.
- Area lights are a flexible solution to brighten up certain spaces. These lights often contain chips to illuminate the space automatically in low-light conditions.
- Canopy lights are a good option for mounting high in commercial settings or from lighting up entryways and garages.
- Yard lights are another excellent solution for larger parking lots, campuses or yards. These models will brighten large spaces and can be energy efficient.
- High lumen post lights are excellent decorative options to position at the end of sidewalks or driveways. But, of course, you can place these posts near doors, too.
- Wall packs can be placed on walls to shine a light on large spaces. This form of lighting can brighten up side doors and windows while also adding a nice accent to your home.
But there is more to security than just purchasing the right lighting system(s). First, you’ll want to consider your lighting position. We typically aim for placements that are about 10 to 20 feet apart.
For the highest level of security, look for positions that maximize coverage to brighten up as much space as possible without impacting interior comfort.
Floodlights are an example of a lighting system that can illuminate large spaces but they don’t offer much of an aesthetic appeal. These solutions are typically great for commercial spaces and residential areas where the amount of coverage is paramount like driveways, side entrances, and garage exteriors.
Security lights also have additional features, such as timers or motion sensors, which work great when attached to garages, doors, or entryways.
Added Benefits
Beyond making your home safer from intruders, a properly designed and installed outdoor lighting system adds an additional level of safety by making potentially dangerous elements of your landscape easier to see at night.
Proper low-voltage outdoor lighting landscape lighting helps to illuminate stairs and walkways to make steps, drops, and ledges easier to see in the dark.
A few recommendations to make your landscape safer at night:
- Place strip lighting under stair treads to reduce the risk of trips and falls
- Illuminate walkways by either brightening the space or outlining the path
- Make sure stone ledges, and the edges of patios and decks are clearly illuminated
- Ensure pools and ponds are fully illuminated from edge-to-edge (and beyond!)
- Use motion sensors to turn on lights in areas that are actively being used
If you add the right outdoor lighting to your home or business, you can have a major impact on the security and safety of your property.
Spend time finding the correct type of lighting, consider key entryways and areas where safety or security may be a concern, and don’t hesitate to contact a professional that can help to identify areas, techniques, and concepts you might not think of.
