How To Maintain Your Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor lighting is an important and beautiful asset to a home. This is so because it adds curb appeal at night and makes your home safer after dark. Properly installed landscape lighting can serve multiple purposes varying from increasing aesthetic appeal, to providing an additional layer of security to the property. Outdoor brightened with proper lights appears to be welcoming and inviting to both you and your guests. It also extends the time to enjoy outdoor living spaces year-round at your home. However, these lights can’t serve their purpose completely if they are not frequently maintained. Hence, it is as important to maintain outdoor lighting as to install them. To keep them working for long, you should regularly check your outdoor lighting and make sure they are in perfect working condition.

For outdoor lighting maintenance and repair, don’t be afraid to ask landscape lighting contractors in Plymouth MI for help. These professionals will check all your lighting fixtures to ensure light and equipment are fully functional. It is essential to get regular maintenance. Because outdoor lights are exposed to high temperatures, rain, extreme winds, dust, irrigation, dirt, pests, and occasionally snow and ice. All these conditions may affect lighting elements over time. Thereafter, the elements start getting corroded or even break. This may result in a lower quality light output. Professional and timely outdoor lighting maintenance will ensure the best lighting outcomes for every environment.

Reasons to Maintain Outdoor Lighting

Apart from this, there are so many reasons why you should opt for an annual lighting maintenance service. Let’s find out!

• Poorly maintained lighting system experience more issues.
• Failing lamps will often go unseen.
• Unkempt shrubs and grasses can block fixtures.
• Dull fixtures and old bulbs reduce the brightness.
• Choosing the wrong replacement bulb can damage the complete system.
• There should be no tension associated with outdoor lighting.

Proper and timely maintenance can extend the life of your landscape lights and keep them functioning properly. You can check your outdoor light system once or twice a year. Or if there is an issue, you should get it repaired instantly to avoid more expensive repairs later. Always remember to disconnect the electrical source of your landscape lighting system before cleaning or performing maintenance tasks crucial to maintain outdoor lighting.

Thins to Look for While Maintaining Outdoor Lighting

Here are a few things you should look out for while maintaining or repairing outdoor lights.

ENSURE PROPER WORKING ORDER:

Proper working order means your lights should have proper wattage, voltages, amperages, and circuit loads. Sometimes, there may be a problem with any of these factors due to faulty installation or lighting issues. In that case you need to get a professional to determine where the problem actually lies. A professional outdoor lighting expert will test voltage and amperage. Troubleshoot your system and solve the issue to ensure your system is working properly and absolutely safe.

CLEAN LIGHTING COMPONENTS:

Professional maintenance of outdoor lighting also includes cleaning of the fixture, removing mineral deposits from the lenses, bringing back the lost shine of the outside glass, and much more. This can be done using solvents as lens cleaning can make a big difference to the light output.  Make the fixtures flawless by removing accumulated mulch or debris.  Debris can block the intended lighting effect and also cause fire hazards.  

RE-AIM, RE-FOCUS & PROPERLY ADJUST FIXTURES:

If we talk about the landscape, it keeps changing as plants grow and seasons change. With plants getting mature, it becomes necessary to keep changing the focus of the light beam. Also to make adjustments to the beam spread of the lamps installed. If you have made a contract with a good landscape lighting maintenance company, they offer many benefits. Like relocation as well as adjustments after a few months, improving the appearance of the lights.

REPLACE & LUBRICATE GASKETS, O-RINGS & SEALS:

Gaskets, seals, and o-rings wear out with age and are affected by heat. These need to be replaced periodically with the new one to create a seal that works against the elements.

Some other Maintenance Tips:

• REPLACE LAMPS: Many people have already opted for LED lights, which virtually negates the need for changing bulbs. If you have older bulb types like halogen or incandescent bulbs, or your LEDs are not shining as brightly as they used to, you may need to replace them. Professionals will not only change the bulbs but also check for corrosion within the socket and perform necessary repairs.

•  REPAIR & REPLACE FIXTURES: All electrical or mechanical devices get wear and tear, and age with time which. This can cause damage to fixtures that requires repair or replacement. Many fixtures have replaceable elements like sockets, screws, lenses, and stakes. While there are other cases where you may need to replace the entire fixture.

Conclusion

Costs to maintain outdoor lighting are generally determined on an individual basis. There are several factors based on which costing is calculated like the accessibility of the wiring, quantity, and type of fixtures, and the age and type of system. If you are looking for a reasonable maintenance service, call Illuminated Gardens. Our experts give customers a detailed listing of the maintenance or repair work that will need to be done along with material pricing and service charge. We ask for payments after completion of the service.