Driveway Lighting

There are many ways to upgrade the look and value of your home.  Adding driveway lighting is an excellent way to increase your property value as well as the night time appearance of your home.  Driveway lighting is fairly simple to install, there are many styles and varieties to choose from, and it has some unique advantages over spending the money for other purely cosmetic home improvements.

For many people, adding driveway lighting isn’t just a matter of looks but rather a practical step to aid in safety.  Driveways that aren’t lit can become dangerous at night, especially for the elderly and others who may be prone to falling.  If your driveway receives regular foot traffic at night, adding lights will be an excellent choice.

Driveway lighting can increase the security of your home.  When a home is well lit at night, burglars and other home invaders are much more likely to go someplace else where entry is much easier.  Driveway lights help deter the shadier elements by keeping light on the subject so to speak.

Driveway lights can improve the look and feel of your home, showcasing the beauty for all to see.  If you have an especially long driveway, the effect of driveway lights can be truly stunning.  In addition to normal driveway lights which typically light the ground area in a 360 degree radius, you may want to consider some uplights.  Uplights are able to light up the front of buildings, trees, or other features that you would like to accentuate.  While they don’t proved the best lighting for safety, uplighting is very effective at creating a beautiful visual effect and deterring criminal activity.

Solar driveway lights are a very popular way to add a little light without adding to your monthly energy bill.   Solar lights will tend to be larger than the variety that requires electricity from your home as they need space to include adequate solar paneling to recharge the lights every day.  If your yard and driveway area are fairly open and receive lots of light each day, choosing solar is an excellent option.  Solar light installation is fairly simple because you do not need to lay any wiring for them.  The individual units are self contained.  With solar driveway lights, they will come on automatically in the evening so you also don’t need to worry about remembering to switch them on or off.  The lighting given off by them is generally weaker than other types of lighting, though, and they do not charge well in driveways that don’t get adequate sunlight throughout the day.  

In ground driveway lighting takes considerably more time and skill to install than do solar lights.  These lights are recessed into the ground or the driveway itself.  While in ground lighting can be solar powered, the more popular varieties are either low voltage or regular electric powered.  The solar ones will be the easiest to lay as they don’t require extensive underground wiring.  In ground driveway lighting is nice if you don’t like the look of the above ground driveway light posts.  It also has the benefit of being much more difficult to knock out of place or to walk off with.  If you have kids that like to play on the front lawn, in ground lighting may be better from a safety perspective.

In the end the type of driveway lighting that you choose to install will come down to personal taste and affordability.  Make sure you understand the amount of work that will be involved and choose according to your abilities.  Most people choose to install lighting on their own, although contractors are more than happy to help you out if you have a much more complicated form of driveway lighting in mind.