Outdoor light issues

4 years ago

This is the front plans for my house renovations. I can’t decide where to put the outdoors lights. It’s very dark where I live and I need to have light on the stairs. We’re Planning to put two wall sconces on both sides of the front door on the porch . Lights will go under the small roof over the garage doors . Do I put a post light at the end of the stairs coming down on the left in the landscaping OR do I mount a larger light on the outside wall space to the left the stairs as you go up. The stairs will be brick with a blue stone top so not sure about stair lights . Any suggestions ?

Featured Answer

wdccruise

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

"It’s very dark where I live..."

You are lucky! You can see the stars at night, something those of us who reside in cities can never do!

I would follow the Dark Sky outdoor lighting guidelines:

lighting should...

Only be on when needed
Only light the area that needs it
Be no brighter than necessary
Minimize blue light emissions
Be fully shielded (pointing downward)

"We’re Planning to put two wall sconces on both sides of the front door on the porch"

You could use sconces that faced downward or attach lights to the underside of the overhang that would illuminate the porch. I think the latter would work better to illuminate the porch. The former would largely illuminate the wall on which they were hung.

"Lights will go under the small roof over the garage doors"

What would be the purpose of these? The garage doors don't need illumination.

"Do I put a post light at the end of the stairs coming down on the left in the landscaping OR do I mount a larger light on the outside wall space to the left the stairs as you go up."

You could use a downward facing post light but it might not illuminate the entire staircase from that position. I think step lights would be the best as they would illuminate only the area that needs the light, the stairs themselves. A wall-mounted light above the stairs wouldn't work well as the small windows above the stairs are in the way. If you needed to illuminate a path to the staircase, you could use dark sky path lights.

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Comments (7)

EvaElizabeth
4 years ago
We are working on our outdoor lighting and decided to keep all our outside house lights in line with this. It ended up being easier than I thought. The fixtures are actually safer because they reducing glare and they still provide adequate light that looks nice when it’s needed. The direction of the light makes a big difference because it helps illuminate the actual path. The lights also look more natural, like our house isn’t actually “lit” but it’s visible. I think it’s because my eyes are able to adjust. We just finished wiring them with motion detectors and timers. We did include a few extra outdoor “entertaining” lights in our backyard deck area and lights for outdoor cooking but they are on separate switches. We have planned for them to be shielded when we finish over our deck down the line.
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3onthetree
4 years ago
If you do have soffit lights highlighting the door under the garage eyebrow and say the porch columns, verify the method as those show open soffits and exposed rafter tails.

Stair lights in brick risers are easily doable.
Kathy Rickwood
Original Author
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
There will be a soffit to put lighting in the garage door area. The porch columns will be solid with exposed rafters tails. I would like to putting lighting the stairs that would make it easy then having to put a light on the outside of the wall to the left of the stairs.
wdccruise
4 years ago
@3onthetree: "If you do have soffit lights highlighting the door under the garage eyebrow and say the porch columns..."

That's the opposite of dark sky compliant lighting.
Kathy Rickwood
Original Author
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
The garage lights will have to be able to light the drive way a little since it’s very dark and guests use my drive way to get on the stairs so just having lights on the stairs is not enough since there are no street lights in front of my house . I plan to be a dark compliant as I can, but I have to be able to see the path to the stairs and porch.
wdccruise
4 years ago
"The garage lights will have to be able to light the drive way"

Perhaps a way to do that would be to install LED tape lights in a deep channel under the eaves above the garage doors. The tape lights would evenly illuminate the ground in front of the garage doors, provide a path to the stairs, but wouldn't shine into the windows above the stairs. LED tape lights require a transformer but you could put that inside the garage and run low-voltage wires from it to the tape lights.