Category: outdoor lighing

Uplighting: Part of the Outdoor Lighting Design for Your Gaithersburg MD Home

Uplighting, as a part of your overall outdoor lighting in Gaithersburg MD, can add so much to your landscape design.

Like other outdoor lighting, uplighting draws the eye to areas in your landscaping that you want others to focus on, but in a specific direction – up – hence the name, “uplighting.” Mounted below or at ground level, uplights are usually placed so that they are not noticeable during the day.

There are many reasons to use uplighting: to add drama with shadows, to show off your best plants and trees, to create a magical view of your water features, to demonstrate depth and dimension of outdoor walls, fences, or other flat surfaces, to add to safety and security, and to draw attention away from eyesores.

There are four main types of uplights:

  • Bullet/spotlights: a narrow spot beam, used to focus on a particular tree, bush or small cluster of plants.
  • Wash lights: a wash of light, perfect for adding visual interest in plants lower to the ground, shrubs, and wall surfaces. These are also great for lighting pathways or walkways, when when you want soft safety lights.
  • Well lights: installed below grade, and used to light the underside of plants, benches, or the lower part of walls.
  • Flood lights: used for both uplighting and downlighting, flood lights are brighter, and have a wider beam than bullet lights. They are used for illuminating house facades or extremely large trees.

For more information on using uplighting as a part of the overall outdoor lighting for your Gaithersburg MD home, please contact East Coast Landscape Design. East Coast Landscape Design will provide everything to complete your project, from engineering design to wire and fixtures. Let one of our East Coast landscape design specialists show you how a well-designed outdoor lighting system can add to the beauty and safety of your Gaithersburg MD home and landscape.

Posted on Author mdlandscaperCategories Gaithersburg MD, outdoor lighing

Outdoor Lighting in Silver Spring MD: Ways to Prevent Fire

If you have outdoor lighting at your Silver Spring MD home, you should understand that there are some ways to prevent those lights from causing a fire around your home.

For example, it’s important to make sure that mulch, leaves, or other yard debris don’t cover up the landscape fixtures. If you use a landscape service, it’s important to make the landscapers aware of the location of every single light. (Some homeowners find that it’s helpful to provide landscapers with a map with the lights clearly marked.)

Another way to prevent fire is to make sure well lights have a lens cover – preferably a tempered glass lens cover. The tempered glass will prevent the outside of the lens from becoming hot enough to cause a fire, and it prevents debris from getting down into the well light catching fire.

If you have an older outdoor lighting system at your Silver Spring MD home, a transition from quartz halogen to LED will greatly reduce the likelihood of fire, because heat does not readily build up. (However, you should still make sure that your lighting fixtures remain free of leaves, mulch and yard debris.)

For more information on outdoor lighting in Silver Spring MD, please contact East Coast Landscape Design. A properly installed low-voltage landscape lighting system also increases can prevent fires, and enhance the security, safety, and market value of your home.

Posted on Author mdlandscaperCategories outdoor lighing, Silver Spring MD

Outdoor lighting in Silver Spring MD: LED VS Halogen

Which is better for outdoor lighting in Silver Spring MD – LED or Halogen?

When done well, both high quality low voltage LED and Halogen lights produce fabulous results in outdoor lighting for homes in Silver Spring MD.

LED lights have some distinct advantages over Halogen for outdoor lighting in Silver Spring MD. LED lights are more energy efficient and last years longer than Halogen lights. For instance, if you are placing a bulb in a hard to reach area, you want to use an LED bulb, so you don’t have to replace it as often.

The initial cost of Halogen bulbs is much less than LEDs. An LED bulb can cost 5-6 times more than a Halogen bulb, and that will be a significant difference in the initial cost of your outdoor lighting in Silver Spring MD. However, unless you have purchased fixtures that are made to take the heat given off from Halogen bulbs, there can be cracking and discoloration of the fixtures.

For more information on outdoor lighting in Silver Spring MD, call the experts at East Coast Landscape Design. East Coast Landscape Design will provide everything to complete your outdoor lighting project, from engineering design to wire and fixtures. We only use the highest quality lighting manufacturers that use brass, copper, stainless steel and aircraft-quality aluminum designed to last a lifetime. Let one of our East Coast Landscape Design specialists show you how a well-designed outdoor lighting system can add to the beauty and safety of your Silver Spring MD home.

Posted on Author mdlandscaperCategories outdoor lighing, Silver Spring MD

Outdoor Lighting Adds Security to Your Montgomery County, MD Home

It’s true — a barking dog and an electronic security system may stop someone once they get into your home. But what can you do to stop the bad guys even before they hit your doors and windows? Get outdoor lighting for your Montgomery County, MD home.

Of course, you’ll still want to have outdoor lighting by the doors of your Montgomery County, MD home. Most burglaries occur by entering through a door. No burglar wants a light shining down on him as he breaks in.

Outdoor lighting can be integrated as a part of your landscaping in the front yard of your home, and will add beauty and elegance, and security to your Montgomery County, MD home. When the attention is drawn to your home with gorgeous outdoor lighting, burglars realize that they can’t approach your home without the possibility of someone seeing them, and just move on.

However, if you have a big back and side yards, you will also want to add motion detector lights to your outdoor lighting. These can be set to go off only when something really is in your yard, and not just when a neighbor walks their dog by your house.  Some motion lights can be set to go off with alarms.

For more information on gorgeous outdoor lighting for your Montgomery, MD home that will help keep your family secure, please contact East Coast Landscape Design. East Coast Landscape Design will provide everything to complete your outdoor lighting project, from engineering design to wire and fixtures. We only use the highest quality lighting manufacturers that use brass, copper, stainless steel and aircraft-quality aluminum designed to last a lifetime. Let one of our East Coast Landscape Design specialists show you how a well-designed outdoor lighting system can add to the beauty and safety of your home.

Posted on Author mdlandscaperCategories Montgomery County MD, outdoor lighing