Make your property landscape stand out

Landscape lighting can be the thing that takes your yard and home from basic to fabulous. Planning and laying out a lighting scheme for you. Building this requires picking out the right fixtures, placing them correctly for the best effects and safety, and wiring them correctly so everything is hidden and looking great. You will want to consider where you want to use waterproof fixtures near ponds and pools, conelights or spotlights for lighting paths and features, and flood lights for trees, building faces or other large elements.

Before you head to the store it is a good idea to walk the yard and create a diagram of your landscape. Note what is important to you for your outdoor lighting plan. Do you want to highlight the garden ? Define the paths? Light the building or home?

Tips for Shopping

• Invest in a transformer that will handle upgrades in the future

  Light the features and the paths, but not everything- Usually, with landscape lighting, a less is more.

• Light dispersal- Different pole lenghts and lumen ratings can have dramatic effects on the end result

• Get LED- Halogen lights are a bit less expensive, but they are hotter and and are prone to more bulb changes and burnouts.

Safety First!

1. Call before you DIg! 811 will mark out your wires and pipes

2. Waterproof all your wires and connections! In Rochester we get some of the toughest weather in the country!

Quality Assurance

A few final suggestions for a high quality project:

1. Make your bases solid- Most ground stake fixtures are not strong enough to last in Rochester weather. Use PVC pipe to construct a base and make your wiring easier.

2. Make sure all of the fixtures are straight- Dig holes deep enough so the PVC piping is level with the ground. Use a level!

3. Test each light- Check each light fixture with a digital voltage meter. Low readings can mean you have a bad connection somewhere.