Will installing outside tree lights harm my trees?
Not if you have it done by a professional who is trained in special techniques and who uses the right specification grade fixtures. Outside tree lights must be sized in scale to the tree in both fixture size and wattage.
What benefits do these lights add to landscaping?
Trees add a third dimension to your landscape that creates a sense of comfort, mystique, and spaciousness when illuminated with outdoor tree lights. Guests will enjoy being outside in such as space much more than they would if only the ground itself were lit with a single layer of light. By creating multiple layers of light, you bring the landscape up toward the stars and elevate both visibility and emotion in the process.
What types of outside tree lights do we need to create this layered lighting effect?
There are only two main categories of outside tree lights: up lights and down lights. Within these categories are a wide range of sizes and wattages intended to match the fixture to the tree and the area around the tree that needs to be lit.
Uplights are box flood lights installed at the base of the trunk. They shine their light up the side of the tree into the leaves above, illuminating it with a light that sweeps the eye upward.
Down lights have a practical application in that the shine light down on the ground that makes it easier for people to see. However, down lights are also used for decorative effect. Mercury vapor outside tree emit a bluish-green light that is remarkably similar to moonlight. When concealed in branches, mercury vapor outside tree lights emit an ambient aura from within the canopy that cascades down to the ground just like moonlight does when the sky is clear and the moon is full. This works exceptionally well if you have very large oak trees in your yard that are not only tall but also have a wide canopy formed by branches that fan outward.
We recommend that you do not attempt to select these fixtures yourself or attempt installation of outside tree lights on your own. A landscaping designer can do all the outdoor light planning for you and provide you with superior, specification grade fixtures as one of many components in an overall landscape lighting plan.
Can outside tree lights be used with very small trees?
Yes. One of the best ways to do this is to plant a flower bed around a small or moderately-sized tree and hide 100 watt box floods within the vegetation. This conceals the fixture and shines the light up the trunk onto the bottom of the trees branches and leaves. Many times, this can actually make a tree look taller than it really is, helping add a sense of depth and history to a home in a relatively new neighborhood. Many such affects can be created throughout a landscape and house plans if you are working with an expert such as the ones on staff at ILD.
Illuminations Lighting Design is the only “One Stop” destination for lighting design, engineering, landscape lighting services and installation in the state of Texas, and remains unrivaled by any lighting firm in the United States for lighting that is art. As homes grow larger and needs become more complex, having a single resource provides home owners with peace of mind. This translates into a smoother process, reduced costs and a better product. Contact us at 713-863-1133 or toll free outside Houston at 800-863-1184.
We are located in Houston Texas but provide lighting and house lighting plans in Austin TX, El Paso Texas, San Antonio TX, College Station Texas, Beaumont TX, Dallas Texas, Midland Tx and points beyond.
Labels: Mercury Vapor Tree Lighting Houston, Moonlighting, Outdoor Tree Lighting Experts, Outdoor Tree Lighting Plans
An evening at Houston's prestigious Lakeside Country Club is a long day's journey into illuminated, romantic night. Located near beautiful tree-lined Memorial Drive in West Houston, Lakeside Country Club caters to a clientele with finer tastes, a strong sense of faith, family, and community, and a desire to retreat into a natural setting after spending a day in the office in the busier, more commercial districts of our city. As such, our work for Lakeside Country Club was centered around the intent to highlight the lush, resort-like environment, the pristine beauty of an exceptional private lake, and to underscore an evening at Lakeside Country Club as a visit to a better, beautifully simplified world where natural beauty, refined taste, and absolute comfort separate experience within the grounds from the outside world of breakneck business and congested traffic.
Lakeside Country Club by its very design supports this since of differentiation and escape to better surroundings by bringing travelers gradually to the clubhouse by means of a gently winding road that meanders through the grounds. By the time members and guests hand over their keys to the valet attendant, the slow approach to the building has already helped them forget the stress, disappointments, and pains of the day and helped them look instead toward an evening of pleasure they have worked very hard to afford. In keeping with this aesthetic, Illuminations Lighting and Design installed high-end accent lighting fixtures using proprietary installation techniques that cast the precise amount of light on structural keynotes along the driveway. We utilized sophisticated sign lighting to emphasize the Lakeside Country Club sign and also placed low-key fixtures on the flagpoles to emphasize the colors of our nation, state, and the Lakeside Country Club emblem itself. To blend our lighting theme with Nature's perfection, we deployed our moon shadow and canopy lighting specialists trained in environmentally friendly installation methods to place hidden lights within the branches of trees that light the driveway. These fixtures cast pools of light on the ground very similar to the soft glow of moonlight (hence the term, "moon shadow lighting"). By placing these lights within trees that line the roadway, ILD created a grand entryway of light that enlivens the mind and lifts the spirit of anyone who journeys into the world within the gates.
Upon entering the dining hall at Lakeside Country Club, members immediately experience an illuminated unity of architecture and nature as they peer through the clubhouse windows onto the landscape lit by fixtures positioned at both the front and rear of the building. These fixtures cast the light in a circle around the building, eliminating the reflective glare of the interior lights and making it possible for members and guests to see clearly through the glass. It is now possible to view the Vista of the golf course surrounded by tree canopy lights that shine down upon the driving range, the putting greens, and landscaping elements that blend indigenous vegetation with aesthetic terraforming. The interior of the Lakeside Country Club dining room thus becomes one with the surrounding exterior due to the unifying field of light cast by strategically positioned, sophisticated lighting equipment. As the eye follows the light from the dining area into the surrounding countryside, it encounters the pinnacle of our work - the illuminated suspension bridge over the lake. Lit clearly by accent lighting fixtures that help establish its position as the central outdoor structure of the property, the illuminated suspension bridge has earned high acclaim from Lakeside Country Club members and guests.
Because so many people join Lakeside Country Club to not only to dine in refined settings free from traffic congestion and parking shortages, but also to experience the natural beauty of the property, ILD completed its lighting design work with refined touches of outdoor lighting placed strategically along pathways and structures that form the patio dining areas. The palm trees, dining tables, pools, and surrounding deck all bathe in soft, relaxing light cast down from surrounding oak trees just beyond the perimeter of human activity. This results in a blended experience of activity, form, and natural ambiance where earth and architecture come together in a field of light and contribute to an unforgettable experience of refined conversation, peace, and serenity for all those who attend evening events at Lakeside Country Club.
Illuminations Lighting and Design extends its warm thanks to the directors of Lakeside Country Club for choosing us as their design partner in excellence. For other similar organizations, we stand available for all inquiries to accomplish a similar vision for their establishment. Call us today at 713-863-1133 for a complimentary, in-depth consultation to begin a long day's journey into light.
Labels: Hospitality Lighting Designers, houston landscape lighting, Lakeside Country Club, Landscape Lights, Mercury Vapor Tree Lighting Houston, outdoor lighting maintenance, Resort Lighting Design
A home is not just a house. A home is a sanctuary, an abode, a reflection of your inner being and deepest values. As such, the outdoor portion of your property can be just as much a home to you as the interior of your dwelling. Residential landscape lighting can extend your home atmosphere into every square inch your property, turning darkness into a decorative living experience unsurpassed by those around you. With Illuminations Lighting Design as your consulting partner in this venture, you can express your own inner vision for an outdoor living experience with a residential landscape lighting theme that complements function and entertainment with a singular aesthetic. You need more than just the right equipment to achieve this. Clients need the best landscape lights and fixtures for residential outdoor design, and you need technicians who can plan and implement that design with respect to your personal lifestyle and sensibilities.
As more and more people are installing floodlights, security lights, and patio lights, there will be nothing unique about one more home on the block having an illuminated yard. In fact, certain lights purchased from typical retailers can even degrade the quality of the home by making it look generic and equivalent to neighboring residences. Lighting design is more than technology. It is an art and a science unto itself. ILD will set your home apart from the ones around you with a residential landscape lighting theme that complements the design and style of your dwelling's architecture. Every house is unique in some capacity, and ILD knows this. Our specialists have trained extensively in construction techniques and have spent many years learning how to spot key points of distinction that make a house one of kind. After extensive consultation with a home owner, and after careful analysis of the physical residence, our landscape lighting design team will know exactly what equipment to use and what installation strategies to implement to make your home stand out as your neighborhood's supreme example of excellence. By utilizing shadows and light, we can create sub themes within the overall theme of your residential landscape lighting design, and we can take this effect one step further with home lighting automation strategies that allows you to directly manipulate and alter these effects at will.
We have a number of residential landscaping and lighting techniques that offer you benefits few, if any, other companies can implement. We train our staff to look for ways to utilize every feature of a yard as a residential landscape lighting element or compliment. With special mounting techniques that are tree and plant friendly, we can utilize living things themselves as decorative elements without harm or detriment to life or its quality. With an advanced knowledge of mathematics and geometry, our certified technicians know where to find the very best angles for installation so unsightly equipment remains hidden from normal view. With low voltage residential landscape lighting equipment, and with special fixtures designed specifically for patio lighting, tree lighting, floodlighting, and fountain lighting, we can minimize glare and objectionable hot spots, creating the illusion of sourceless light that appears to spring spontaneously from the ether itself.
Don't neglect the outdoor portions of your property as mere ground your home sits on. Call Illuminations Lighting Design to turn your entire property into an innovative and complementary expression of the meaning of "home." Residential landscape lighting is more than a service offering. It's a living experience you'll enjoy for countless years to come. Contact us online or call us today at 713-863-1133 or toll free at 800-863-1184.
Labels: Exterior Lighting Contractor, houston landscape lighting, low voltage lighting systems, Mercury Vapor Tree Lighting Houston, outdoor lighting maintenance
Outdoor lighting maintenance can be more complicated than you think. Even changing a low voltage halogen light bulb, for instance, can require knowledge that only a trained outdoor lighting maintenance professional would know. Specifications not available to consumers can determine mission critical success or failure of a replacement. Reliable and lasting results depend on knowing what wattage the fixture is designed for, what beam spread the lamp uses for various results, and what temperatures allow the light to burn with optimal safety and maximum half-life. The outdoor lighting maintenance team here at ILD is here to help you with any questions and to develop replacement and upgrade solutions that will protect both your investment and personal safety anytime you think you might have a problem.
Many things in life can and should bring great satisfaction to the "do it yourselfer", but ELECTRICAL WORK IS NOT ONE OF THEM. Because of the hazards of shock and electrical failure, we always caution even the savviest and most mechanically inclined to contract their outdoor lighting maintenance from trained and certified electrical professionals. Even if you took an electronics course in college or trade school and feel confident you know wiring and lighting, please understand that technology evolves more rapidly each day, and every piece of new equipment has a mind of its own, so to speak, when it comes to interacting with other pieces of equipment. Some outdoor lighting fixtures, such as HID fixtures, require the use of a ballast to drive the lamp. Maintenance professionals are normally the only people with access to the right ballast models and with the necessary training to install them. Low voltage fixtures require a 12-volt power supply, and mismatching a low voltage light with a high voltage power supply can blow out the light instantly. Even more discouraging to a consumer who has just purchased some of the newer MR16 lamps is the sinking feeling of doing everything right and then watching the bulb prematurely fail in a matter of days. This happens with MR16 lamps because the glass envelope that constitutes the light's reflectors is highly sensitive to oil. Just a small deposit from a person's fingers can cause premature burnout. An even more serious situation results when a homeowner mistakenly installs an indoor light designed for dry locations in their back or front yard. Houston humidity can quickly cause a short circuit that could result in severe or even fatal electrocution.
Outdoor lighting maintenance involves more than simply replacing faulty equipment. It involves optimizing existing equipment configurations so that homeowners can receive the best return on their financial investment possible and maintain the highest value that outdoor lighting brings to their property. We often change groupings of lamps to address lamp depreciation, color shift, and normal life expectancy. Outdoor lighting maintenance professionals from ILD can add value to service by replacing halogen lamps with a 4000 average lamp life with mercury vapor lamps with a 24,000-hour average lamp life. Mercury vapor lights also produce better illumination because they install in trees and cast a soft glow downward. Definitely call an outdoor lighting maintenance professional to install these tree lights. You can fall off a ladder or scar your tree in an attempt to install one yourself. ILD uses professional tree climbers to install these fixtures and uses techniques that are safe and environmentally "tree friendly."
Outdoor lighting maintenance professionals not only have mastered the basics, but also retrain annually in new technology seminars so they can help our customers with all of these variables and find the best and most affordable solution to whatever maintenance needs their outdoor lighting design requires. Call us now at 713-863-1133 to see what we can do to help you improve your property, peace of mind, and personal well being today.
Labels: Electrical Contractors, houston landscape lighting, light repairs, low voltage lighting systems, maintenance, Mercury Vapor Tree Lighting Houston, Outdoor Tree Lighting Experts
Illuminations Lighting and Design offers full design, consultation, and installation services for any commercial or residential landscape lighting design project. With years of experience and extensive cross training in other disciplines, our consultants can design lighting landscapes that enhance the aesthetic and functional element of any property. Our clients rely upon us to develop unobtrusive lighting solutions that emphasize features and minimize the appearance of fixtures. As a certified electrical contractor and a certified design firm, ILD offers the unique benefit as a one-source provider of both the creative and technical aspects of the project. Houstonians and residents throughout Greater Texas come to us as one of the few firms that can design, supply, install, and service a one of a kind landscape lighting theme from start to finish.
Commercial clients can advertise twenty-four hours a day with sign lighting that brands their logo with continuous illumination. The more sophisticated the building sign, the more opportunity we have to showcase its uniqueness. We have many landscape lighting fixtures optimized for three-dimensional artwork that also work equally well on three-dimensional granite and marble surfaces. We also carry a number of landscape lighting fixtures that create superior facade lighting effects. For buildings that appear too homogeneous in color and material, facade lighting proves the ideal alternative to renovation or relocation. The effects of certain lighting can actually alter color and texture in such a fashion as to make the plain face of a building appear as something completely different under the effects of the light.
Residential landscape lighting and design often requires illuminating both organic and inorganic features of the landscape. ILD accommodates this complexity by linking interrelated landscape lighting design subsystems into an overall theme or home automation system. We specialize in accent lighting for sculptures and structures that takes a minimalist approach to illumination. We find that softer lighting such as moon lighting creates a surreal enhancement of three-dimensional art without the distracting glare generated by generic, high-voltage bright lights. We utilize similar techniques in path and garden lighting, casting only enough light to provide a safe path for travel and environmental enhancement. With special equipment from the world’s best lighting manufacturers, we can even provide water feature lighting for fountains, ponds, and waterfalls located near sidewalks and garden paths. Commercial clients value landscape lighting design as a tool to showcase the most excellent elements of their facilities and commercial property. Residential clients find them essential elements to a truly entertaining home-based event that involves any extended time outdoors near the pool, the garden, or the patio.
Regardless of whether a client is a residential client or a commercial client, safety and security concerns are foremost in our mind whenever we design a landscape lighting them. Lighting creates a continuous emotional presence that deters criminal and nefarious activity simply because it minimizes the opportunity for miscreants to conceal themselves. Without compromising aesthetics, we install motion sensors around and within the property's perimeter and link these sensors to security floodlights and alert systems. What appears to the casual passerby to be a soft, illuminated fountain or walkway is in actuality a highly sensitive detection system that will alert building and homeowners, along with law enforcement, in an instant if something suspicious occurs. We fine tune this equipment of course to ensure that only humans trigger the sensors, so false alarms by pets and wildlife occur much less frequently with ILD landscape lighting and security designs than they do with generic and retail floodlights.
ILD maintains a full-service staff of technicians with a typical four-hour response time to landscape lighting design clients in need of upgrade or maintenance. After twenty-seven years of consistent value production in this unique and eclectic niche market, ILD is the premier source of equipment and service regardless of the nature of your landscape lighting design needs. Call 713-863-1133 or request a lighting design consultation to determine what exactly we can do for you.
Labels: Home and Garden Landscape Lighting, houston landscape lighting, Lighting and Home Automation, Mercury Vapor Tree Lighting Houston
It's springtime in Houston Texas and nothing makes that yard look better at night than a quality, professionally designed outdoor landscape lighting system from Illuminations Lighting Design.
ILD has been designing, installing, servicing and maintaining landscape lighting systems throughout Houston, Austin and San Antonio for over 27 years. Their experienced team of landscape lighting designers can assist you with a lighting design or no obligation cost study for any size home or business.
Their landscape lighting crews are some of the best in the business. They understand how light works and where the light should go to maximize your visual nighttime enjoyment. No tree is too high for ILD professional tree climbers! Illuminations Lighting Design is experienced in all forms of outdoor landscape lighting from simple low voltage systems to more complicated high voltage HID lighting systems.
Illuminations Lighting Design stocks a full range of landscape lighting materials such as bullet fixtures, hard to find lamps and replacement parts for all types of outdoor lighting equipment, regardless of the manufacturer. ILD not only services what they sell, but they can assist you with repairs or maintenance to existing outdoor landscape lighting systems installed by their competitors. All of ILD's technicians are experienced licensed professionals and they subcontract no work to outside vendors.
- They use only state of the art landscape lighting techniques and commercial grade lighting equipment.
Facade Lighting - Your home will glow with understated elegance and beauty from small halogen lighting fixtures hidden and concealed in the landscaping.
Security Lighting - Keeping customers safe and secure with outdoor security floods and motion sensors is one of their specialties.
Accent lighting - Highlighting works of art, architectural elements or other features in the garden is no problem for Illuminations Lighting Design.
Path lighting - Whether you are looking for a safe passage into you house or going for a casual stroll in the garden, ILD has just the right light source for the job.
Water Feature Lighting - Nothing looks better in the garden than a well lighted fountain or waterfall from Illuminations Lighting Design.
Illuminations Lighting Design brings unparalleled knowledge by master lighting designers to perfectly enhance the beauty of your surroundings with elegant outdoor landscape lighting. Contact them today to learn more about outdoor landscape lighting.
The results will be spectacular!
Labels: Houston Electrical Repairs, houston landscape lighting, Landscape Outdoor Lighting, low voltage lighting systems, Mercury Vapor Tree Lighting Houston, Outdoor Tree Lighting Experts
Do you have any before and after pictures of landscape lighting that shows facade lighting on a two story home? I have had several lighting companies come out and I am just not satisfied with what I have seen so far. Your name was given to us recently by a friend who has used your lighting services. Do you have any pictures that I can show my husband before we schedule a time to meet? Thank you.
Here are the before and after landscape lighting images that you requested. I would be happy to meet with both you and your husband to discuss the many benefits of outdoor landscape lighting for your home. Illuminations Lighting Design has been illuminating fine homes for over 25 years. Our experienced team of LANDSCAPE LIGHTING PROFESSIONALS are experts in selecting the right landscape lighting equipment for your home or office. Special consideration is given to the the size, type and wattage of the lights, as well as mounting techniques to protect trees and shrubs. We use only tree friendly landscape lighting equipment and take great pride in concealing the lights, wires and junction boxes visually, while allowing for tree growth and expansion.
Illuminations Lighting Design is a FULL SERVICE DESIGN BUILD FIRM specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting installation, service and maintenance as well as home automation, home theaters and lighting control systems.
I have a complete portfolio showing all types of exterior and interior lighting installations that we can review at our meeting. Please give me a call at your earliest convenience to schedule a no obligation consultation. I can be reached at 713-863-1133 or by email at tom@illuminationslighting.com. I look forward to meeting you and bringing your garden to life!
Labels: Architectural Lighting Houston Texas, houston landscape lighting, Mercury Vapor Tree Lighting Houston, Outdoor Architectural Lighting, Outdoor Lighting Jobs, outdoor lighting maintenance
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Recently, I met with a couple who had just moved to Houston from Southern California. They had moved into a very nice neighborhood with a large home, on a large lot, that had extensive landscaping. They had found our name in the phone book and were entertaining bids from several companies for
LANDSCAPE LIGHTING. During the course of my conversation, she asked me a simple question. "What makes your company so special and how do you differ from other landscape lighting companies"? Here is what I told the clients that day ......
Illuminations Lighting Design is a 30 year old company with some of the best lighting designers, technicians and electrician's money can buy. Our client base includes some of the finest and most recognizable names in Texas and across the country. We are known as the guys who do it right!
We evolved into a full service lighting company that does not only landscape lighting but, residential and
commercial lighting projects,
home automation designs,
home theaters,
lighting control systems,
fine art lighting,
antique cabinet lighting and whole house
transient voltage protection. Not only can we design these systems, but install, service and maintain these and other lighting and electrical systems. Illuminations has a war chest of talent like no other company of its size. Specialists, each in their respective fields focus on certain aspects of the project so that no detail is overlooked. As a team, Illuminations Lighting Design can create a total solution.
When Illuminations Design is on a project, we take into consideration not only your exterior lighting, but how that intertwines with your interior lighting design, to provide a total lighting solution. Like music, lighting sets the mood. Not ever home has this harmony, and we are specialists at transforming any home into a lighting masterpiece.
Other landscape lighting companies generally focus on one aspect and cannot attend to any lighting need you may have. So whether you need a plug added in the house, a light for a new painting, surge protection to protect your whole house, a home theater or whole house sound system, you can count on Illuminations Lighting Design to handle those requests.
It was shortly after that meeting, that my proposal was accepted and the work was completed. Here is what the client told me after we were finished ......
I wanted to thank you for such a wonderful job planning and executing the lighting plan for our home and backyard. Our enjoyment of these spaces has been greatly enhanced by your expertise and recommendations. Additionally, I was very impressed by how punctual and in what a timely fashion the work was completed. It was a pleasure working with you and be assured that we will confidently recommend you and Illuminations to our friends. Thank you again.
Labels: Facade Lights, houston landscape lighting, Houston Outdoor Lighting Maintenance, low voltage lighting systems, Mercury Vapor Tree Lighting Houston, Moonlighting
Ever notice that when you look out your windows at night you see...yourself? When the inside of your house is lit and the outside is dark, your windows become like mirrors. Many people will spend much time, effort, and yes, money to construct their yards and their landscaping, but then lose the views and the functionality of the space as soon as the sun goes down. This scenario is all too often the case for most homeowners, but it doesn't have to be. By bringing lighting into the garden, you can not only make it functional at night, you can maintain your view from the house year round.
Lanterns, porch lights and exterior floodlights can create glare and do not, on their own, constitute well designed landscape lighting. These lights serve a distinct purpose and should not be the only light source in the garden. They should be kept at a very dim level so as to not create overwhelming glare. Proper landscape lighting, used in conjunction with other light sources can transform your garden into a nighttime extension of your home and enhance your outdoor investment.
One popular way to add a soft blanket of light to a property is through a technique called "Moonlighting." Like a full moon, lights mounted high in the trees and aimed back through the branches will create a dappled display of light and shadows across your property. This effective landscape lighting technique is perfect for soft, even illumination of the property from the aesthetic view and well as providing a security function. One of the main benefits of mercury vapor tree lighting (the type of lamp used most often in moonlighting) is that the fixtures are out of your normal field of view and the color of the light is very close to natural moon light. This type of equipment has a tremendous lamp life and requires very little maintenance.
Moonlighting should be done by lighting professionals who are trained in fixture selection, fixture placement, wattage requirements and tree preservation, since controlling glare, light level, aiming, and understanding the needs of the tree are very important to a successful installation.
To compliment the tree lights, professional lighting designers typically illuminate small ornamental trees, sculptures, fountains, pathways or structures with a contrasting color of light. Lighting architectural elements of the home, such as columns or entry ways, or even washing the facade, can also add huge amounts of beauty, function, and security to your valuable investment. This layering effect of different light sources, intensities, and textures produces a very dramatic effect.
Finding a company you trust to do the installation should not be taken lightly. Besides the inherent design pitfalls of glare and intensity that can be challenges for outdoor lighting, there are the issues of safety and respect for your existing landscape. Installing electrical fixtures and wiring outside where it will be exposed to the elements for years to come is serious business and should only be handled by experienced professionals. It may be tempting to try to save money by staking some solar lights (that, by the way, don't put out ANY usable light) along a pathway or hire a landscaper to put in some low voltage lights, but the lack of appropriate fixture and/or the lack of true electrical and lighting design expertise will most likely leave you sorely disappointed and spending more money in the long run.
So how should you evaluate the different companies in your area? Do you homework and ask questions. Request to see a company's credentials, insurance, press releases and portfolio. Ask for references, pictures or testimonials. This highly specialized art has been mastered by Rick Luberger, landscape lighting designer, and the trained staff at Illuminations Lighting Design. For over 25 years, Illuminations Lighting Design has worked on both residential and commercial projects to create some of the most elegant and tasteful creations in the industry.
Join us in celebrating our 25th Year of business by viewing our Client Testimonials to see what people are saying about our services. Like music, lighting sets the mood! For more information regarding professional landscape lighting services contact Rick Luberger by email at or by phone at 800-863-1184.
Labels: Commercial Landscape Lighting, houston landscape lighting, Mercury Vapor Tree Lighting Houston, Outdoor Architectural Lighting, Outdoor Restaurant Lighting, Texas Lighting Design
My husband and I are looking to hire a professional to install some landscape lighting. We got an estimate from a company who installs high voltage lighting... Their work looks beautiful on the photos, but the estimate was quite high. Then, we invited a company that does low voltage lighting, and the estimate was $5000 less. However, I am concerned about longevity and practicality of low voltage lighting. Will it last? And will the landscapers run over the cables and cut it? Will it be too obviously visible and unattractive? What do the experts think?
It sounds like you have a fairly large project to warrant such a discrepancy in price. This is primarily due to the equipment, method of installation and labor costs. Both systems should be installed by a licensed electrician and according to National Electrical Code. High voltage systems require the use of conduits that should be buried 6" deep for galvanized rigid steel and 18" deep for PVC conduit. Low voltage systems utilize direct burial cable and should also be buried 18" deep to prevent damage to the cable when digging in the flower beds. Most low voltage lighting contractors rarely bury the cable that deep.I suspect the first contractor recommended the use of mercury vapor lighting, which is typical for landscape lighting professionals. Lights mounted high in the trees are a very attractive way to illuminate the yard with moonlight illumination. These types of lights are low maintenance and will give you years of service. This is a much more dramatic and heavy duty approach as the price would indicate.
Low voltage lights can be a very effective lighting system when installed properly for several reasons. First of all the lights are typically small and can be moved as the garden grows. The best part is that can be easily serviced and maintained by the customer. The down side is that they do require more maintenance and are susceptible to damage if the cable is not buried properly. We rarely install low voltage lights as down lights in trees.So, I like to use a combination of high and low voltage lights in my designs. Use mercury vapor in the trees and low voltage lights to illuminate small specimen trees, paths and the facade of the house.
I would recommend that you visit some of their jobs to see the equipment and to better understand both wiring methods. There is a big diffence!
Good Luck!
Labels: Commercial Landscape Lighting, houston landscape lighting, low voltage lighting systems, Mercury Vapor Tree Lighting Houston, Tree Lighting
