Nine Tips to Help You Choose the Best Outdoor Security Lights
Security lighting is one of the most effective aspects of a home security system. Not only does it leave you feeling safer at night, but it lets potential burglars know that your house is secure and under watch.
Moreover, you can use outdoor lighting to lend a certain mood to your yard and a welcoming atmosphere to any nighttime guests.
Here are nine tips for picking the best outdoor security lights for your home.
Choose a Lighting Type
Depending on your yard size and overall outdoor style, you’ll find yourself choosing between a number of different security light options.
Of note, you have floodlights, lamp posts, luminary lights, and step lights.
Floodlights are your standard beams of light that work essentially like stationary spotlights. They’re high powered and functional.
Lamp lights and luminary lights are more decorative, providing less harshness and a more visually appealing appearance.
Step lights illuminate any outdoor steps you may have, making it easier for a homeowner to traverse them for an easy retreat indoors.
For a smaller yard, a lamp post or a set of floodlights will do the job, but the larger the yard the more lighting will be required.
Mount it Out of Reach
For the most secure setup, you’ll want to buy security lighting that can be mounted out of reach. While luminary lights and lamp posts are visually appealing, they’re easily vandalized.
You’ll want to buy and mount floodlights as high up as you can, which works well with that type of lighting due to their power and range.
Step lights are also relatively safe to use, as a potential threat likely won’t think about that type of lighting.
Protect it With a Mesh Cover
Even when your lights are mounted, they’re still vulnerable to thrown objects, like rocks. The last thing you need is to find your yard has been vandalized and your security lights are broken.
A mesh cover will often do the job in protecting your lighting, and some manufacturers include a protective screen or sell them as an add-on.
Get Wireless
When you look for the best outdoor security lights, you won’t necessarily just be looking for wired options.
After all, lights with wired power will usually be exposed and vulnerable to tampering. While it is possible to hide your wiring underground in some cases, high-mounted lights won’t have that luxury.
The best option, then, is to invest in some wireless, battery-powered security lights. While you run the risk of them running out of power and shutting off, as long as you’re changing the batteries on a regular basis you shouldn’t have that issue.
More Coverage is Better
Fully covering your property with outdoor lighting will provide the best security for your home. Without proper coverage, a potential burglar could travel from shadow to shadow and avoid being spotted by you or your security cameras.
In addition, a fully lit lawn leaves visitors completely exposed to any passerby and should deter intruders.
While your neighbors might complain about your illuminated property, they can’t deny how safe it looks.
Look for Motion Detection Capabilities
Needless to say, a fully lit lawn can be an obnoxious sight for both everyone in your neighborhood and yourself as you get ready for bed.
The best option, in this case, would be to invest in motion detection lighting. The best outdoor motion security lights will register human-sized movement, but not light up for every little squirrel or cat that runs through your lawn.
It might be worth it to install motion security lights at your house’s points of entry, where you absolutely need to know if there is movement. Putting them at the end of your driveway would only result in them going off for every passing pedestrian.
Accentuate Your Garden
When browsing for outdoor security lights, you may also want to take into account how it works with your lawn and garden. Throwing random lights over all the entrances is fine, but a mix of different styles will liven up the areas you want to showcase.
For example, if your yard has trees surrounding a pool, you could mount lights from the trees and use the foliage to spread a softer hue rather than harsh beams of light.
String lights are another way to decorate your backyard and bring attention to floral arrangements.
Work with a Lighting Designer
One of the most important steps in any home improvement task is getting help when you need it.
When renovating the inside of your home, you might ask an interior designer for tips and tricks. As for outdoor security lights, you can reach out to a lighting designer.
There are a number of reasons you might consider hiring one.
They’ll work around your preferences while saving you money, and often opt for more sustainable lighting options. A lighting designer will also have a better understanding of color temperature and how the lights will all function together in your yard.
Integrating all the lights into one control panel can be a pain as well, which they’ll help sort out.
Maintenance is Key
Purchasing the best lights and placing them in the optimal locations doesn’t matter at all if they aren’t maintained properly. You’ll want to get not only a good security light, but to take the time to find the best outdoor security light bulb for where it’s placed.
In the case of wired lighting, you will also want to check the wiring often to prevent it from becoming a fire hazard.
Choose the Best Outdoor Security Lights
When the world is going through challenges, you want to go home knowing it’ll be your safe space. Hopefully, with these tips, you’ll get your home looking and feeling how you want it.
Check out our inventory of lighting for both your exterior and interior and reach out to us for a free consultation today to get the best outdoor security lights for your home.