Illuminating Pathways and Entrances with Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor lighting is essential during the autumn months, especially for pathways and entrances and to enhance security and access around your garden as well as allowing you to enjoy the beautiful outdoors at this magical time of year. During the autumn months, the days get shorter, and we experience reduced visibility due to changing weather conditions. It’s important to illuminate your walkways and entranceways to create a welcoming and secure environment. In this post, we explain how to get the most out of your outdoor lighting this autumn.

Assessing Your Outdoor Lighting Needs

Before planning the perfect lighting scheme for your garden, evaluating your current outdoor lighting setup is important. What outdoor lighting solutions do you currently have, and how are they working for you?

Perhaps you have no outdoor lighting, or your current setup isn’t meeting your needs. Consider what you want to achieve with your outdoor lighting and work from there. Which areas do you want to illuminate? This might include:

• Pathways
• Walkways
• Patio areas
• Dark corners
• Lawns
• Entrances
• Garden features
• Pools and ponds

Outdoor lighting can be used for multiple purposes, including task lighting, ambient lighting, access lighting, accent lighting, and security lighting. The perfect outdoor plan should include a combination of these.

Consider what you use your outdoor space for. Factor in security requirements, access requirements, and lighting required for tasks carried out after the sun goes down. Energy efficiency is another key requirement, as you’ll want to ensure your outdoor lighting is eco-friendly and cost-efficient.

Choosing the Right Outdoor Lighting Fixtures

The right outdoor lighting fixtures will depend on the layout of your garden and what you want to achieve with your lighting. There are many different types of outdoor lights, including:

Bollards lights

Bollard lights are outdoor lights that are designed in the shape of bollards, which is where they get their name from. They come in different colours, sizes and designs, and are typically used to light up pathways. They work well in medium to large-sized gardens that have multiple features and pathways. When choosing bollards, it’s important to think about the direction of the light you want. Some bollard lights provide a small beam angle, while others offer 360-degree lighting. The size of the space you want to light up is another important factor to consider. Make sure you choose a bollard light that’s the right size for your garden so that it doesn’t look out of place.

With its natural-looking design, this grey sandstone LED bollard light is a great example of how bollard lights can blend beautifully into an outdoor space.

Spike lights

The mount of spikes is designed as a pole with a sharp ending, which is placed into the ground. They are extremely easy to install and can be easily moved to different areas of the garden when required. There is a wide range of sizes and styles for spikes. Adjustable versions are available, allowing you to customise the positioning of your garden lights for the desired use or effect.

Spike lights are ideal for task lighting, illuminating pathways and lawns or highlighting specific plants or garden features. When choosing the right spike lights for your garden, consider where you will place them and what you want to use them for. Check the pole length, cable length and beam angle to ensure the spike light is suited to your needs.

This adjustable spike light is a great budget-friendly garden fitting that can be positioned to direct the beam where you need it.

Wall lights

Wall lights are fitted to an exterior wall. This category includes security lights, access lights, uplights and downlights. As such, wall lights can provide both ambient and functional lighting. In smaller gardens, wall lights can often be sufficient to provide enough illumination to meet all your garden needs. There are many different types of garden wall lights available, in various styles, sizes and colours and with various specifications depending on the type chosen. When choosing wall lights for your garden, consider your requirements. Are you looking for security, access or ambient lighting?

This outdoor security light has an inbuilt motion sensor that can be adjusted for time and distance. With its stylish and contemporary design, it’s a great addition to any garden.

Recessed and decking lights

Recessed and decking lights are installed directly into the ground or decking. Any electrical connections are hidden to create a sleek and contemporary finish. They provide a subtle ambient glow and direct light source, which is ideal for ambient, access and task lighting. They look fabulous and functional, making them an extremely popular choice. Recessed and decking lights are ideal for decking areas, steps, patios, pathways, pools and hot tubs.

They are a great energy-efficient choice because they typically use LED bulbs. When choosing recessed and decking lights, consider where you want to place them and what they will be used for. The size of the area is important as this will help you determine how many lights you need.

When selecting the right lights for your garden, some important factors to consider are durability, weather resistance and ease of installation. You want to ensure your garden lights will last the test of time and withstand harsh weather conditions. For exterior lights, the minimum rating required is IP45 or above. Lights with a rating of IP65 or IP68 will have the greatest degree of protection against weather and water.

This 10-light outdoor decking light kit is a great budget-friendly solution and is available in cool white, warm white, or blue for the perfect ambience.

Planning the Lighting Layout

Before installation, it’s important to plan the layout of your garden lights. Make a sketch of your garden and identify areas you want to illuminate or features you want to highlight. Consider what types of fittings are best for each of the areas you have identified. Do you want functional or mood lighting in each of these areas?

Consider pathways, entrances, and focal points to create a balanced and cohesive lighting design in your garden. Consider how much light intensity you will need for each area, and consider alternating between bright and softer colour temperatures for a beautiful, layered lighting effect.

Another key consideration is the direction your lights need to face. Outdoor lights come with different beam angles; some are adjustable, allowing you to direct the light where you need it. Do you want to uplight or downlight? This will affect the type of lighting you need to buy and where it should be placed.

During the autumn season, it’s important to illuminate pathways and entrances to enhance the security of your property and provide safe access in lower lighting conditions. To do this effectively, you will want to install wall lights and lights to illuminate any walkways and pavements. This may include bollards, spikes, and recessed lights in, on, or around these areas.

Planning the layout of your garden lights before installation is important to ensure you get the desired lighting effect the first time. In fact, it’s a good idea to consider the layout before investing in lights, as this will help you choose the right ones with the appropriate brightness, design, and beam angle.

Installation and Placement Tips

When it comes to installing your outdoor lights, it’s important to be safe and follow the correct procedures. If in doubt, you can always hire a professional electrician to carry out the work for you.

Safety precautions when installing outdoor lighting

It’s important to follow these safety precautions when installing outdoor lighting:

• Ensure the mains power is switched off before starting.
• Switch off the breaker and, where possible, lock it.
• Socket test each circuit to check they are safe before you begin. Use a voltage tester for lighting circuits.
• Put a note on units you are working on to notify yourself and others.
• Socket or voltage test all finished work before use.
• Install all outdoor lighting in compliance with building regulations and wiring regulations.

Installing wall lighting

Wall lighting is fixed to the exterior walls of your home. Wall lights can be connected via spurs from existing lighting or via power circuits. It’s good practice to use an RCD so the power will shut off immediately in the event of a fault, so check that your lighting has an RCD fitted; otherwise, you will need to wire one in separately.

• Drill a hole in the wall where you want to fit the light. The hole should tilt slightly upwards.
• Place a plastic conduit inside the drill hole and feed your cable through.
• Ensure the cable cores are connected to the right terminals in the unit, or use strip connectors to connect the cable cores to flex cores.
• To prevent damage to the cables from being damp, tightly wrap them in PVC tape.
• Fix the light to the wall. Apply a silicone sealant to protect the fixture from moisture.
• Run the light supply cable to a suitable place for cutting into a main lighting circuit cable in the property. Ensure the circuit cable has a 4-terminal junction box.
• Install a switch inside the house. Run a two-core-and-earth cable back to the position of the junction box at a length of 1mm²
• Use a voltage tester to ensure the power is off. Isolate the circuit before cutting through the main circuit cable to make the connections in the junction box.

Installing outdoor lighting with an SWA cable

• The three cores of an SWA cable are black, brown and grey. Ensure the black core is covered with green or yellow sleeving at each connection point to indicate that this is the earth cable.
• SWA should be buried between 450mm-750mm deep underground. This prevents it from being accidentally cut, which is dangerous and could be fatal. Consider running an electrical route marker table above the cable around 150mm deep for additional safety.
• Secure an SWA to the wall of your home using cable clips. These can be fixed to any masonry using screws and plugs.
• If you need to cut through the SWA, use a junior hacksaw and use pliers to strip back the armouring as necessary.
• Connect the cores of the SWA to a 1.5mm² two-core-and-earth cable. This should be in a weatherproof adaptable box currently fixed to the wall of your home. The SWA should enter the box via a weatherproof gland protected with a plastic gland shroud. This is very important to prevent the cable armouring from corroding.
• Connect the cable to your lights. Pay close attention to any earth connections and waterproof seals to ensure weatherproofing.

Installing recessed ground light

• Clear the area you will be working in to ensure safety and keep the lenses of your ground lights clean.
• Dig holes 6 inches larger than the diameter of your light fixtures, with a depth of 8 inches deeper than the height of the lights.
• Once the hole is dug, ensure you can run the wire through to connect the light fixture to the power supply.
• Install conduit to protect the wiring. Lights being installed in stone or concrete will also need an installation tube.
• Use tape or mastic putty around the threads of the conduit connector and power supply to create a protective barrier.
• Fit the ground light and fill the remaining volume of the hole with gravel to ensure a secure fit and prevent damage from water ingress. Concrete can be used instead of where lights are being installed into this material.
• Once your lights are installed, check your wires and test the lights.

Working with electricity can be dangerous, so if you do not have the right expertise and knowledge, be sure to consult a professional!

Autumn Lighting Design Ideas

You can enhance your outdoor space with lighting this autumn in many ways. The days are getting shorter this time of year, but the weather is often still warm enough to enjoy your outdoor space. Consider creating a cosy ambience in your garden using warm-toned LED and soft recessed lights.

Spotlights or uplights can be great for highlighting autumn foliage at this magical time of year. Consider investing in lights with a bronze or gold finish to complement the seasonal colours of autumn. This exterior hanging wall light in an antique brass finish is a great example of an outdoor light perfect for illuminating entranceways.

During the autumn months, it’s important to prioritise safety and aesthetics in your garden with appropriate autumn lighting solutions. Consider task lighting, security lighting and ambient lighting when planning your autumn garden lighting scheme. Plan your lighting layout prior to investing in lights and installing them. There are many lighting options to choose from these days, so have fun with your garden lighting design and exterior lighting!