Outdoor lighting can make a major difference in terms of your home’s curb appeal and even increase its value. Adding outdoor lights to your house can also improve your home security and ensure that you can safely walk around at night without needing a flashlight. In this article, we’ll explain the basic process for installing different types of outdoor lights and also why it’s a job you should always leave to an experienced professional.
Why You Need to Enlist the Help of a Licensed Electrician
The first thing to understand is that you should never try to install outdoor lighting or do any other electrical work yourself. There’s no risk of electrocution when performing the work as long as the main breaker is shut off. Nonetheless, you could end up getting shocked when you turn the power back on and touch the new light switch if it isn’t wired properly. Improper wiring can also lead to a short circuit or fault that can damage the circuit’s wiring or anything else connected to that circuit.
A bigger issue is that faulty or improper wiring can be a major fire hazard and could potentially result in your house burning down or suffering severe damage. There’s also a risk of death by carbon monoxide poisoning due to smoke inhalation or getting trapped inside by a fire.
Another thing to be aware of is that many types of electrical upgrades require an electrical permit and final inspection, which is something only a licensed electrical contractor can apply for. A permit generally isn’t required if you’re just adding new outdoor lighting to an existing permit, but you usually will need a permit if you need to install a new circuit for the outdoor lights. If a permit is required and you do the work without one, you can end up getting fined by the city or county.
Another issue is that all of the work must meet the relevant code requirements. If it doesn’t conform to code, it can end up decreasing the value of your home. If you try to sell your house in the future, the buyers can also request that you pay to bring everything up to code. Alternatively, they may instead want to negotiate so that the final price reflects what it will cost to perform the necessary work.
One last thing to note is that you need to make sure that your new outdoor lighting doesn’t risk overloading the circuit it is wired to. Otherwise, you’ll end up with the breaker often tripping. If a new circuit needs to be installed to run the lights, you also need to have a load calculation performed to ensure that your electrical panel is large enough to handle the load of the additional circuit. If the panel isn’t large enough, you’ll need to upgrade it or else you’ll likely end up experiencing a wide variety of electrical issues.
How To Install Outdoor Lighting on the Exterior of a House
As long as an electrician can tap into an existing circuit and doesn’t need to run a new circuit from the electrical panel, they can usually install new lights on the exterior of a house in only a few hours. It’s even easier if you already have a light switch that controls outdoor lights and you’re just looking to add more lights to that area. In that case, they can splice the wiring for the new lights onto the same junction box as the other lights and then just add a bigger switch. However, they’ll still need to cut a hole in the wall to access the junction box. Depending on the location and whether the new wiring can be run through the attic, they may also need to cut out a strip of sheetrock and then drill holes in each of the studs to run the new wiring. They’ll then need to drill a hole in the siding to run the wires outside before finally mounting the lights and testing to make sure everything works.
If you have an outdoor outlet in the area where the new lights are going, the electrician can also potentially splice the new wires onto the existing wiring in the outlet. This will still require cutting out some sheetrock on the inside of the exterior wall to run the wiring, but it can still be the easier and quicker option in some cases.
How to Install Landscape, Yard or Patio Lighting
Installing landscape lights or new lighting for your yard or patio is usually a more time-consuming process. That’s because you’ll need to have a way to run the wiring from your home to wherever the lights are going. In many cases, this involves digging a trench and burying the wiring underground. Depending on layout and location, it may also be possible to run the wires through a conduit from an outdoor outlet to the new lights. However, many people choose not to go this route due to aesthetic reasons since you’ll end up with a metal conduit running all along the side of the house. It may also be possible to run the wires overhead for new patio lights, but this isn’t always the best option either.
If the electrician needs to dig a trench to run the new wires underground, they’ll first have to call for a utility locate so that they know where any underground electricity and gas lines are. If underground utilities are present, they may need to route the wires differently, potentially even running them through a conduit along the fence. After digging the trench, the next step is to attach the wires to the home’s electrical system. The easiest way to do this is to connect it to an outdoor power outlet if possible. If the lights are going to be on a new circuit, they’ll instead run the wires from the electrical panel and through an exterior wall into a junction box on the outside of the house. They’ll then attach a conduit to the junction box and run the wires down through it into the trench.
The depth of the trench usually depends on what type of wire is being used. Some types of wires can also be run directly underground, while others need to be inside a plastic conduit. If there are any concrete paths or paving stones in the way, the electrician can usually drive a conduit underneath the path and then pull the wires through it without having to dig or tear anything up.
After all of the wiring is in place, one of the last steps is to mount and connect all of the lights. You usually need a permit to run underground wiring to landscape lights and other outdoor lighting. In this case, the electrician will need to contact the local electrical inspector and have all of the work inspected before they can fill in the trenches and bury the wires. Once the work passes the inspection, the trenches can be filled in and then you can take whatever steps are necessary to replace the grass or redo your landscaping.
If you want to upgrade the outdoor lighting at your home, John Henry's Plumbing, Heating, Air, and Electrical is the company to trust. We’ve been serving customers in the Lincoln and Omaha area since 1996 and have the experience to handle all of your electrical, HVAC and plumbing needs. To schedule a consultation and learn more about your options for adding outdoor lighting to your home, contact our expert team today. We provide comprehensive electrical inspections to ensure your home’s electrical components run smoothly.
