Landscape lights can add immense beauty to your property once the sun goes down. You can highlight, downlight, moonlight, pathway light, dim or brighten lights (or both), and so much more! This allows you to customize your landscape for optimal nighttime use depending on what you’re doing. When done properly, landscape lights not only add beauty, but also double as protection for you, anyone enjoying your landscape, and your property as a whole.

In order to help you take full advantage of your landscape lights, we’re sharing the top three ways landscape lights can add a protective layer to everything and everyone you hold dear.

Landscape Lighting Can Prevent Falls + Injuries

When your pathways, decks, patios, pool areas, and steps are properly lit, not only do they serve as beautiful accents to the rest of your yard, but this lighting also helps to protect you and others from dangerous trips and falls. Where others are concerned, preventing accidents on your property also decreases your liability for any potential injuries and accidents, which is crucial to peace of mind and averting financial consequences. To create the optimal lighting where both safety and aesthetics are concerned, make sure the placement, height, and type of fixtures are a good fit for the role they’ll play in your landscape.

To learn more about pathway lighting, click here.

Landscape Lighting Can Deter Intruders

The same landscape lights that illuminate paths and other features on your property can also keep you safe from intruders. How much safer? The statistics around burglaries are a bit alarming:

  • According to the FBI, in 2016, around 1.5 million burglaries occurred in the US.
  • Most burglars—around 65%—live close to you. 
  • It takes less than 10 minutes for your home to be burglarized.
  • Residents are at home during 33% of home intrusions.

To help prevent you and your property from becoming one of these frightening statistics, your landscape lighting can well be your first line of defense. Potential intruders love the cloak of darkness, so if your property is properly lit, they’ll most likely move on to a different, and probably darker, victim. Here are a couple of aspects to focus on when designing your lighting plan:

Entry points: 
Make sure all entry points to both your yard and your home are well lit. Install lighting around doors as well as any perimeter fencing gates, and if you have fencing that is in total darkness in any part of your yard, it might not hurt to install some strategically spaced lighting along your fencing also. 

Solar lights: 
These can be simple lighting options since they don’t require you to flip any switches or set any timers, and since they are solar powered, they can be installed easily. However, their lifespan is usually limited and they don’t give you the ability to mimic human behavior (see below). 

When deciding where to install any intrusion-preventing lighting, walk around your landscape at night to see where any dark spots appear, and then go from there. Remember: Lights don’t have to be bright to deter intruders, they just have to offer some degree of light.

Use Landscape Lighting to Mimic Human Behavior

Since most burglars live close to you, they’ll probably monitor you and your neighbors’ daily and nightly activities before deciding which properties to break into. That’s why it’s crucial that your landscape lighting mimics your behavior, both when you’re at home and especially when you’re out of town. How can you accomplish this? Through the use of dimmers, timers, and motion-detecting lights.

  • Dimmers allow there to be some light, alleviating dark spaces in your yard.
  • Timers allow lights to turn on and off without you having to lift a finger. This is especially important when you’re out of town to make it “look” like you’re still at home. And even though we’re talking about landscape lights, don’t forget to set timers throughout your house to mimic your usual nighttime behaviors when you’re out of town. If setting timers on some landscape lights, like your entry lights, isn’t possible, maybe enlist the help of a trusted neighbor to turn on and turn off those lights while you’re away.
  • Motion-detecting lights can suddenly bring any darker areas to light when motion is detected. To get the most safety effectiveness from motion-detecting lights, consider installing motion-detecting floodlights, which will illuminate any intruders very quickly, often encouraging them to go elsewhere. These lights can often be deactivated with the flip of a switch while you’re at home, keeping that unexpected glare from happening when it’s not needed.

Protecting your property, especially your home and all those you love, is definitely a top priority. Make sure the lighting you install in your landscape will not only bring that dream landscape to light at night, but also add the high level of protection to keep you and your assets safe. For more information on landscape lighting, contact us. We have the knowledge and products to achieve all the goals you have for your landscape lighting plan.