7 tips to improve your exterior lighting with LED flood lights

A house with a brick driveway illuminated by LED lights at night.

LED lights have been innovative ever since their introduction in the market, with such advanced features they allow a lot of improvement in lighting design, be it indoors or outdoors. LED flood lights being outdoor light fixtures offer a variety of techniques in which they can make the exterior of any building appear pleasant and comfortable. 

Here are 7 tips to improve exterior lighting with LED flood lights. 

1. Use of led flood lights 

LEDs have the best options to choose from. They have several benefits over traditional bulbs. LED technology is designed considering specific lighting needs which previous lighting tech has failed to deliver. 

LED flood lights have a bigger advantage of getting the desired light output regardless of fixture size. Traditional fixtures have incompetent design variation which makes them inaccessible in most situations because of bigger size to accommodate necessary fixture components or other features which malfunction in most cases. 

HID lamps have been considered a good fit throughout for high-intensity lighting needs in outdoor environments. But faced with several drawbacks like the fixture heating up too quickly, frequent maintenance issues and their inability to work in intense temperatures have compelled the customers to seek better options, which is in fact LED. 

LED flood lights are cost effective and energy efficient lights for exterior lighting. Their exceptional and compact design features allow the user to experiment with various lighting layouts. Most LED fixtures allow various integrations on top of providing high-quality lighting, which makes them a smart choice. 

2. Get more than one light 

The best light layout is when several fixtures are combined to work together to corroborate  a certain layout. Most residential exteriors have several architectural and landscape features which need attention. This is necessary both for aesthetics and security. A well lit exterior also wards off criminals. The pathway leading to the entrance and the surrounding residential buildings need a proper light setup, which can be layered with flood lights. A single flood light fixture might not cover all such aspects, so multiple fixtures of the same or different specification help set a layout efficiently. This can be beneficial to the neighbourhood as well as the property owner.  

3. Layering 

Outdoor setups require light layering just as much interiors. Layering enhances the ambience of the exterior of any building. It helps set a signature layout specific to a building. Layering of light can be done by using different flood light fixtures of different specifications. 

Not just for flooding the entire area with light, they can soft wash a specific area, uplight a row of trees or downlight any flower beds around the resident.  These techniques make the exterior look not only safe and bright, but pleasant to look and walk around too. 

4. Landscape accenting, facade lighting 

Landscape accenting is one way to explain layering the light with the help of flood lights. Any exterior with a vast land surrounding it with distinct landscape features can be accented with the help of flood light fixtures. 

Flood lights have adjustable beam angles from 0 to 120 degrees, this allows accenting. 

For facade lighting, specific facade flood lights are available, which can be paired with wall packs and other lights to light up any important area or feature around the exterior. 

A backyard with a stone wall and LED lighting.

5. Use motion sensors

LED flood lights are integrative with photocells and motion sensors. This is an intelligent feature as these lights are not functioning round the clock but at specific times of the day, especially at night. Motion sensors are essentially for two reasons, energy savings and security. With general lighting, it is important to note that some areas only require light at specific hours or for an extra layer of security. Motion sensor flood lights detect motion within 1m radius and light up instantly. They do not require any start up or cool down time. 

6. Decorative flood lights

These flood lights are one specific category of flood lights with aesthetically appealing designs while also being just as functional as other flood lights. The outer finish is made up of a coated material which gives off a sleek look with a narrow or wide beam spread. These lights are suitable for building exteriors such as cinemas, old buildings, offices, museums and homes. 

7. Use a spread lens

A spread lens is a flood light accessory which, when fixed in front of the lens, spreads the beam even wider and evenly over a large surface area, this allows aiming the light in a certain direction and is actually quite useful in commercial areas. 

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