Looking for a way to make your dark and drab yard shine? Light up your property with help from Mikulka Electric. Whether you want to install pathway lights or garden lights at your home or business facility, we have the skills and lighting materials to get the job done right. Mikulka Electric makes outdoor lighting easy and affordable for homeowners and business owners in the Monroe, Marlboro and Holmdel, New Jersey areas.
Cost
Reach out to our trained electricians today to discuss your outdoor lighting vision and budget specifications. The average 15 light LED outdoor lighting system should only cost less than $22/year in electricity to run. Break that down into your monthly electric bill and you won’t even notice the difference. You can count on Mikulka Electric to install premium lights that suit your property and budget.
Outdoor Lighting Services
The front of your home is a canvas. The way you position your lighting impacts how people perceive your property. Properly positioned lighting can highlight the best features of your home. Poorly positioned lighting, on the other hand, can have the opposite effect. There are various rules that light designers follow when creating a lighting plan for a home. Three important design considerations for outdoor lighting are cohesion, depth, and focal points.
The concept of cohesion refers to the overall impression you want to create. To make your lighting design cohesive, you need to illuminate the background, intermediate areas, and borders. You should avoid large unlit areas around your home, as your eyes naturally overlook the space. That interrupts the experience.
The next important concept to get to grips with is depth. The front of your home is a three-dimensional environment. You need to place your lighting elements in positions that make the most of your space. You can use high, medium, or low wattage lights with different spreads to help you make the most of the area.
Finally, when determining the front of house lighting positions, consider the focal points of your home. Decide which features you want to focus on. The focal points might be unique features or functional parts of your home. For instance, you might want to highlight a unique water feature. Functional elements of your home include seating areas or the entrance to your house.
Light effects
Uplighting and moonlighting are two ways you can highlight tall landscape features in the front of your home. Uplighting involves installing well or directional lights facing upwards under trees or architectural elements. Moonlighting mimics the effect of the moon spilling onto a property. You can create dappled shadows on the lawn by placing a light on a tree facing down. Moonlighting provides soft illumination over large parts of your property and minimizes dark patches. Ideally, the lighting fixtures should be at least 25 feet high and preferably attached to a tree with a canopy.
You can also use uplighting to highlight exterior walls and objects located close to them. There are various ways to utilize uplighting for this purpose, including silhouetting, shadowing, and grazing. Silhouetting involves casting an even light on an exterior wall from a wide-angle. You can create a bright backdrop for an object by positioning the light between a feature and the wall. A plain, untextured wall will yield the best results for this method.
Shadowing involves creating patterns on walls by illuminating an object. It’s a nice way to illuminate shrubbery and other objects that are low to the ground. Shadowing is particularly useful for houses with untextured exterior walls or vinyl siding as shadows break the monotony.
Finally, grazing involves using an acutely angled light against the wall. Most grazing lights are set one foot from the wall, with the fixture tilted some distance from the wall to reduce hot spots. Grazing is especially effective with irregular surfaces such as river stones as it produces interesting shadow patterns.
Path lights evenly on both sides of the path. Traditional path lights with domes will direct the lighting downwards, which is important. You don’t want to be blinded by lights when you’re looking where to place your feet.
Avoid pointing your outdoor light fixtures directly at doors or windows. Pointing a light at your doors or windows can severely affect visibility. The glare will make it difficult for you to see outside, and the backlighting can prevent you from spotting suspicious objects or figures lurking in darker areas. Instead of pointing light sources directly at doors or windows, we suggest positioning them at an angle.
Outdoor Lighting Services
Wiring can pose a fire or electrical hazard if left exposed. Harsh weather conditions can make the exterior coating brittle, while wild animals or pets can chew away at the insulation. In addition, exposed wiring can also cause accidents. To prevent these scenarios from happening, bury your wiring. Most reputable lighting designers use tin-coated marine-grade wire. The National Electrical Code recommends encasing wire in a non-metallic conduit made from a material such as PVC and burying it at a depth of 18 inches below the soil surface. If you wish to use a rigid metal conduit, a depth of 6 inches will suffice.
Contact us
Hiring a professional electrician is the safest way to troubleshoot electrical issues. Mikulka Electricians are always professional and efficient. Insured and trained to do the job right the first time. Experts in the field of electrics with over 25 years’ experience. Prepared with up-front pricing and a lifetime guarantee. We observe all personal protective equipment and COVID 19 requirements to keep our staff and your family safe. Our team of experts will respond immediately to your call for help. Call Mikulka Electric, Inc. for a wide range of electrical services, including indoor and outdoor lighting, electrical heating, electrical repairs, and back-up generators. We service the Central New Jersey area. Address 275 RT. 79 Morganville, NJ 07751 https://mikulka-electric.com/contact-us/