How Can Outdoor Lighting Improve Home Security?
The dark hours have always been associated with monsters, threats, and fear. There’s nothing like a bump in the night to send homeowners reaching for smartphone surveillance apps and self-defense tools. While it can’t replace the sun, outdoor lighting offers a surprising range of security benefits. Here are seven ways it can make a difference.
Reduce Dark Zones
Unlit areas of your property always present some level of hazard. These stretches may give strangers the confidence to cross through your property, conduct business there, or scout your home for a burglary. Eliminating these zones shows awareness and control of your space.
Anyone with pets, particularly dogs, stands to gain even more from thorough lighting. Nocturnal animals hide in dark corners, and if you don’t spot them before your dog does, you may need to call your vet.
Keep Signage Readable
Whether you have a guard dog, a remotely surveilled security suite, or simply a ditch at the end of your drive, your warning signs only work when visible. Outdoor lighting can help you, your neighbors, guests, and lost tourists stay safe. A small spotlight on your No Trespassing sign is a warning and helpful advice for anyone who confuses your house with someone else’s. A little illumination helps people realize where they are, understand the risks, and avoid potential hazards.
Startle Trespassers
A flood light paired with a motion sensor makes a powerful energy efficient deterrent. If you’ve ever been jump-scared by a motion sensor when visiting a friend or taking an evening stroll around your neighborhood, you already know how effective they can be, even if you’re perfectly innocent.
Someone looking to rob or vandalize a home runs the risk of ending the night in handcuffs if they aren’t careful. When the floodlight reacts to their presence, they know someone or something is watching. They lose the cover of darkness in a heartbeat, and they suddenly risk exposure to cameras and occupants, increasing their chance of being caught. It’s enough to make any would-be burglar reconsider.
Highlight Entry Points
Your front door will always be a weak point because it’s designed to open. The same is true of windows. Burglars don’t have to break glass if they can slide one open. However, outdoor lighting can make them less vulnerable. An unlit back door creates an illusion of neglect on the part of the homeowner and safety on the part of potential burglars.
Adding architectural-highlighting features like spotlights shows you’re aware of all entry points while forcing potential robbers into the literal light. Multiple lighting solutions for doors also ensure you’re never left entirely in the dark if one bulb goes out. Consider an arrangement that suits your home, like paired lamps by the door, step lights, and a floodlight for your driveway.
Hide an Empty Home
Timers are as valuable as motion sensors. When these two controls team up, it looks like someone’s home, even if they’re vacationing on another continent. A dark house is a popular invitation for trouble, but lighting changes signal activity and human habits, like turning the porchlight on and off every day. Small spotlights can sometimes make dark rooms look occupied from the street, too.
Avoid Accidents
Home security isn’t just about preventing a burglary or vandalism. Your health and safety are part of your security. Tripping hazards, including steps, uneven terrain, and loose gravel, can send you to the hospital. Forgotten toys and abandoned hoses can become much more dangerous in the shadows. Trip and fall accidents can complicate your life or lead to lawsuits.
Path and stair lights literally show you the way home when you arrive after sunset. Unexpected obstacles, like a neighborhood cat or a package left at your door, pose much less of a threat when you can see them. If you plan to retire in your home or welcome aging guests, thorough lighting is a considerate way to make your house more accessible.
Additional string lights, spotlights, and pathway lights make your yard or patio a safer place to relax as well. You can worry less about guests twisting an ankle on their way to the restroom, and it’s always best to see the full yard when kids are playing after dark.
Boost Other Security Systems
Well-placed outdoor lighting is a great step towards improved security on its own, but it integrates wonderfully with other systems. Cameras positioned by doors may record clearer features and crucial details with better illumination.
Automatic floodlights linked to an audible alarm can help wake a family, alert the neighbors, and warn off intruders during an attempted break in. Remote control over features like porch lights gives homeowners additional tools to ward off suspect visitors spotted with doorbell cameras. If you turn on the light when your phone alerts you to an unexpected guest, it furthers the illusion you’re in the house.
Mister Sparky Can Help!
Call the professionals at Mister Sparky to start your home security improvements today. Our team of experts is ready to help identify problem areas and recommend solutions. Don’t put up with any malarky, call Mister Sparky! Professional installation ensures your new lights are stable and secure, so you don’t have to worry about tripping breakers or the first storm shorting out a fixture. We’re Niceville’s friendly electrical experts, and we back that up with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
