Prevention is better than a cure, and landscape lighting is no exception. If you have quality outdoor lighting, you’ll want to pair it with quality outdoor lighting maintenance and repair as well.
While there is no substitute for professional outdoor lighting maintenance and inspections, there are many things you can do to prevent landscape lighting problems from occurring.
Landscape Lighting Preventative Maintenance
- Plants and Trees
Too often, an outdoor fixture gets blocked or disrupted by plants and trees. Whenever you are planting new trees, shrubs, and plants around your property, make sure they are not too close to any of your lighting fixtures. What is now a small seedling could soon grow to block, obscure, or envelop any nearby light fixtures.
If you have a landscaper or gardener, make sure they know where all of the lights are located. Communicate to them that plants should not be planted in front of or too close to any fixtures. Wrong plant placement can easily enshroud a once-bright area in darkness.
Additionally, if you are removing any trees, double-check that there are no wires or fixtures mounted in the tree. If so, call you professional landscape lighting specialist to remove the lights and relocate them for you.
Remember, plants grow. Take this this into account whenever planting or gardening. Consider flagging or marking all of your fixtures whenever embarking on a large landscaping project.
- Mulch and Ground Covering
In addition to plants and trees, you also want to be careful where you put down mulch and other ground coverings. It can be incredibly easy to accidentally bury in-ground lights, such as well lights.
As we suggested earlier, it’s a good idea to flag or mark all of your outdoor lights whenever tackling any large landscaping project.
- Careful Garden and Yard Maintenance
It’s a good practice to remove weeds, snow, and leaves from your property, but you want to be extra careful around any outdoor lights. When mowing the lawn, weeding, shoveling snow, or raking leaves, pay attention to where your tool is going.
Hitting a cord or light with a shovel, weed whacker, or some other instrument can damage or break your light fixture.
While outdoor lights tend to be very durable, most are not built to withstand heavy or repeated impacts. If your lights keep getting damaged by regular garden and yard maintenance, speak with a professional about upgrading your lights to a tougher type.
- Signs of Moisture
Moisture and electricity do not go together. The job of your light fixture is to protect the bulb, socket, and wires from moisture. That’s why it’s important to be on the lookout for any signs of moisture infiltration.
Sometimes, you can see water droplets build up on the inside of a fixture. If you notice any signs of moisture inside or entering your fixtures, contact a professional as soon as you can. Halogen buld outdoor lights are particularly susceptible to moisture. The longer, you wait, the worse the damage will be.
Make sure you contact a professional outdoor lighting technician at the first sign of moisture problems around any fixtures.
- Switch to LEDs
LEDs are safer, sturdier, and much longer lasting than any other light bulb type. One great way to avoid burnt-out bulbs and keep maintenance to a minimum is by replacing all of your lights with LEDs.
Compared with traditional incandescent lighting, LED lights use “at least 75% less energy, and last 25 times longer” (U.S. EPA).
Since LED lights cost more upfront and are more prone to moisture-related problems, consult a professional landscape lighting technician about watertight fixtures that can protect your LED lamps.
Annual Professional Maintenance
In addition to the landscape lighting prevention tips above, it’s important to schedule a professional outdoor lighting inspection every year. In addition to basic prevention, a qualified technician will also check the following:
- GFCI and AFCI outlets and/or circuits
- Light timers and motion sensors
- Photocells
- Terminal blocks
- Line balances
- Fixtures
- Mineral deposits and other staining
- Overgrown plants and vegetation
- Wiring and connections
- Burnt out, dimming, or flickering bulbs
If your landscape lighting needs professional maintenance or service, don’t hesitate to contact us. We service and maintain most outdoor landscape lighting systems even if we did not install them.During your annual visit, our team of lighting specialists will make sure everything is safe, clean, and up-to-code. Contact Lite Visions to schedule your landscape lighting consultation.