Hi, I’m Mike Kraft, You work hard to make your yard beautiful by day, but surprisingly, many of us never even think about making it just as nice at night. So, we have some great ways to make your yard beautiful and safe from dust to dawn with landscape lighting. The over all effect will make you the envy of the neighborhood.
Landscape lighting is easy to install and it’s economic to operate. You can use spotlights to highlights small areas and flood lights to cover a wide general area. You’ll discover many types and styles of features that can really transform your yard, and you’ll be amazed at what you can find at Lowes.
Like any lights that illuminate walkways, driveways, path lights the softly edge at the way, dramatic up lights, down lights and sidelights to highlight trees and statues and hidden wheel lights that dramatically accent trees, shrubbery and buildings. Here is a good way to test where your light should go. With the help of a friend, use flashlights that have both spot and flood lights settings and in shine them where you think you want to install your lights. What type of lighting looks best of each location? What angle enhances the area? Or where the light shines to the nearest window?
Now, it’s time to formalize your pan. Sketch out the bird’s eye view of your yard including all of its key features, trees, walls, drives, walkways, and gardens. Then plat the exact location of the light fixtures, the next decision, solar, low voltage or high voltage lighting.
High voltage lighting is use for commercial projects and should only be installed by a professional. If you’re using the lights for esthetic purposes just to dress up your yard, solar lighting is a good choice. They install almost instantly with no wiring and they run of their own power, but if safety and security are important then low voltage lighting might be a better choice. They are brighter and their performance doesn’t depend on how much sunlight they’ve stored.
A good DIY project and the simplest low voltage option are installing a lighting kit. This kit usually contains six to 12 lights and the electrical cables, connectors and controls necessary to support them. You can find them in a wide variety of sizes and styles at Lowes.
If your plan is more elaborate, you can buy all the components separately and assemble your own custom lighting solution. Before we begin, let’s talk safety. If you’re not confident working with electricity, contact your professional and before you dig have a professional mark the location of any electrical or gas lines.
By dialing 811 you’ll be connected to your local utility company for assistance free of charge. For our installation, we need various lights and the power pack. We also need connector caps and electrical tape since we are running more than 200-watt, we need 12-gauge cable. Under 200-watt you can use smaller 16-gauge cable. We’ll also use a flat blade shovel or edger, a utility knife, wire cutters and wire strippers, a screw driver, and work gloves. You may also need a wooden post for your power pack.
To figure out what size power pack your plan requires add up the total wattage of all the lights. The wattage should be 70 to 100% of the power pack rating. Our lights total 450 watts so we’ll use a 600 watt model.
For larger installations, you may need to use more than one. Begin by locating your outlet on the outside of your house. All outdoor outlets should be ground fall circuit interrupter or GFCI outlets. They provide extra self protection in areas of high moisture. Attach the power pack nearby to oppose in the ground or on the house itself.
Assemble the lighting fixtures according to manufacturer’s instructions. Then place the lights in their final position according to your plans. Layout the cable, connect each light to the cable with the cable connector caps so that it punctures the cable and makes contact with the wire inside. Make sure you follow the exact instructions that come with your fixtures.
Beginning at the control box, use a flat blade shovel or edger to cut a narrow trench up to three inches deep along the cable path, and make a perpendicular slit where each light is going to be located, push the cable into the trench. Wherever there’s a fixture, push the stick partially into the ground. To temporarily mark its position, follow the manufacturer’s instructions to connect the cable to the power pack.
If necessary, strip about three quarters of an inch of the installation off the ends of the two wires then connect them to the two terminal screws. Most low voltage cable has a lead in free strip and ready for installation. Then plug the power pack into the alley. Make sure all the lights are working, adjuster focus, and then finish pushing them under he ground. Close up the trenches, set the controls for automatic on and off times then sit back and enjoy your dramatic new night time landscape.
And for more home improvement projects, check out the other how to videos at Lowes.com/Videos.
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