How Proper Landscape Lighting can Help with Home Safety
Just as outdoor lights enhance the aesthetic appeal of a house, landscape lighting and home safety are also directly related. Once the sun goes down, your yard can turn into an accident-waiting-to-happen zone. Outdoor injuries occur with greater frequency at night, due to trips and falls, stumbling on stairs, collisions with stationary objects and even falling into pools and other hazards.
When thinking about landscape lighting and home safety, remember to:
Recognize The Hazards
Identify steps, pathways, pools, solid objects like poles, trees and fences and any other zones like areas where outdoor furniture are often present and evaluate lighting options for these hazards.
Wash The Landscape
Creating a low-level “moonlight” effect continuously washes the landscape with low-intensity, energy-efficient lighting to remove shadows. Remember that stark, high-intensity lights often create deep shadows and can be counter-productive from a safety standpoint.
Spotlight Hazards
In addition to constant low-level light, brighter individual spot lights can be utilized to highlight particular zones or hazards. Motion-detecting lights can illuminate areas where foot traffic occurs frequently, such as the approach to the front or side porch or the garage door.
Avoid Light Bombs
Outdoor lights should be positioned and properly focused so that they do not shine directly into eyes of residents. Known as “light bombs,” these fixtures tend to momentarily blind persons walking in the landscape, actually creating a hazard instead of enhancing safety. Attention should be given to the proper aiming of flood lights, entry lights and carriage lights to reduce the light bomb effect.
Make Lighting Age-Appropriate
If the household includes senior citizens, be aware that visual perception changes with age and older people may require more light to safely see stairs, stepping stones and other possible hazards.
The experienced electricians at Apollo Home can install these lights to help ensure a safe outdoor environment around your home:
- Landscape lighting
- Exit and stair lighting
- Outdoor detector lighting
For more information on landscape lighting and home safety, in the Cincinnati area, contact the experts at Apollo Home Heating, Cooling and Plumbing.