Lighting Safety: Here’s What to Know When Decorating Your Home

As a responsible homeowner, you take pride in the appearance of your home. You value a sleek, sophisticated, and friendly aesthetic.

Having your outdoor living space properly lit is a great way to cultivate a welcoming environment. Outdoor lighting can also bring you peace of mind as it can deter potential crime.

For the holidays, in particular, festive lighting can bring a touch of cheer and brightness to your home. If you like to stand out from among your neighbors, you take lighting and decoration seriously.

You might already have the perfect lighting design in mind for your home. If you don’t, check out these designs for inspiration.

If you are ready to install some outdoor landscape lighting, take a moment to read these safety tips before you get started.

Take a Survey of Your Home’s Exterior

Before you set up your ladder, it’s a good idea to survey the entire exterior of your home. You might have been working on its exterior design for a while now, but take a look around from a perspective of safety.

Even if you are only lighting up one outdoor living area, you’re going to be on the roof for a while to install the lights. This means you should have a solid understanding of your home’s structure and the stability of that structure.

Check for things like unstable roofing areas – perhaps such as roofs covering a patio, which might not be as heavy-duty. Take note of all the trees next to your house. Once you get on the roof and moving around, you don’t want to be surprised by a branch in your way.

Especially if you are installing outdoor landscape lighting all over your home for the holidays, you’ll need an accurate layout of the exterior to design a proper lighting display.

Stay Organized and Sensible

No matter what project you are working on, staying organized is essential to efficiency and success. For home exterior projects, in particular, staying organized is a matter of safety.

Consider how many cords and bulbs you are going to be handling. The less controlled all of the materials are, the more likely something will break – and the more likely you could trip over a loose item.

Securely wrap up all extension cords or LED strip lights into tight bundles which you can easily handle. Remember that you will be climbing up and down a ladder, so loose ends are a potential threat to your balance and safety.

Don’t take bulbs out of the safe packaging until the moment you need them. This will make them easier to handle and keep organized. Make sure nothing is damaged, as well, to avoid unknowingly causing damage due to broken glass.

Once it’s time to install your outdoor landscape lighting, only take out one at a time to climb the ladder. Stay aware and be sensible about the safest methods to transport your lighting fixtures from the ground to the roof. Even if this takes a little bit of extra time, the investment in your safety will be worth it.

Only Install Fixtures and Lights Made for the Outdoors

Some lighting is only designed for indoor use and could cause all kinds of problems if installed in the unprotected outdoors. Fortunately, most packages are labeled as either indoor or outdoor, specifically.

It’s not only the bulbs that need to be sturdy enough for outdoor use. There are certain fixtures and outlets that also require a heavy-duty capacity to sit in the exposed elements all day long. One tip is to use LED strips since these are easy to install and less prone to damage than regular bulbs.

If you aren’t sure about whether or not a certain kind of lighting is safe for outside use, do some research online — like reading a quick product review by other customers. You can also reach out to the manufacturer to ask for clarifications.

Keep Lighting Safely Out of Reach

If you are installing outdoor landscape lighting in celebration of the holidays, you might be tempted to go all out with the design. It’s easy to think big when it comes to making a statement about your love of cheer and good tidings.

Nonetheless, you should remember that there might be certain areas around your home’s exterior that wouldn’t do well with the lighting. If you have small children or pets, for example, installing lights in their reach could lead to all kinds of accidents. You definitely want to prevent any damage to both them and the lighting itself.

This also remains true if you are installing outdoor landscape lighting as a permanent decoration for your home. Make sure all fixtures, bulbs, strips, and extension cords can’t be messed with by keeping them out of anyone’s reach.

Weatherproof Your Outdoor Landscape Lighting

Even if you have lighting specifically made for the outdoors, the weather can still be a powerful force. All it takes is one storm to come through to cause damage to your lighting installation.

There are still steps you can take to more thoroughly weatherproof your outdoor lighting.

Once you get the outdoor landscape lighting completely installed, go over every component you worked on. Check for frayed ends or exposed electrical wires.

You’ll have to properly seal everything off to prevent moisture from entering. Shrinkable heat tape is great to patch up small damaged spots.

Hire Professionals to Install the Lights for You

Perhaps you are still feeling overwhelmed about installing your own outdoor landscape lighting. That’s okay because fortunately, there are usually professionals in your area willing and able to take care of that for you.

In fact, this is probably the safest option for you when it comes to outdoor lighting installation. There are services that also install specifically holiday lighting, so use your best judgment to determine whether or not you’d rather hire them.

We are knowledgeable and passionate about lighting for your home. We have a wide, varying selection of products that could prove useful for your outdoor lighting products. For questions or inquiries about any items on our website, we encourage you to reach out to us today.