Landscape & Outdoor Lighting
Outdoor lighting fails for boring reasons: a transformer that was undersized, connections that let water in, or cable buried two inches down where an edger finds it. We lay the fixtures out with you after dark where we can, size the transformer for the run, and bury the cable deep enough that it survives the yard. Line-voltage fixtures get weather-rated boxes, in-use covers and GFCI protection.
What we install outside
- Low-voltage path, step and uplighting with a transformer sized for the whole run
- Line-voltage flood and security lighting on a switched circuit of its own
- Post lights and lamp posts, including the buried feed out to them
- Deck, pergola and soffit lighting on dimmers or timers
- Weather-rated receptacles with in-use covers for seasonal decorations
- Photocell and timeclock control, so nothing depends on remembering a switch
Getting the buried run right
- Locate firstPublic utilities are located before any digging, and we probe for the private lines a locate will not cover, such as irrigation and gas out to a grill.
- Right cable, right depthDirect-burial cable at proper depth, inside conduit where it crosses a drive or a bed that gets turned over every spring.
- Connections that stay dryWaterproof connectors rather than wire nuts wrapped in tape, which is the single most common failure we get called out to replace.
- Put the ground backSod and mulch go back over the run, and we note where it goes so the next project in the yard does not cut it.
Aiming and adjusting
Lighting looks different after dark and different again once plantings fill in. We set the aim on the first night and expect to come back and adjust after a season, because a fixture that lit the trunk of a young tree will be shining into a shrub two years later.
Frequently asked questions
How deep does outdoor low-voltage cable have to be buried?
Deep enough to clear edging and aeration, and deeper where a bed gets dug every year. We use direct-burial cable and run conduit under driveways and walkways.
Why did my landscape lights get dimmer at the far end?
That is voltage drop, usually from too long a run on cable that is too small, or too many fixtures on one transformer tap. It is cured by re-tapping, splitting the run or upsizing the cable.
Can fixtures be added to an existing outdoor system?
Often, if the transformer has capacity left. Once it is at its limit, adding fixtures dims all of them, so we check the load before anything else goes on.
Do outdoor outlets need a special cover?
Yes. An outdoor receptacle needs a weather-resistant device and an in-use cover that closes over the plug, not a flip lid that only shuts when nothing is plugged in.
Will landscape lighting survive winter here?
Buried cable and waterproof connections will. What gets broken is anything sitting in the path of a plow or a snow blower, so we keep fixtures back from the edges of drives and walks.
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