What are well lights?
Well lights lie concealed within the ground and up light surrounding terrain, architecture, and vegetation. Grade level well lights create the optical effect of light coming from the earth itself. Well lights accent both landscape and architectural features, and they provide ambient and accent lighting for trees, monumentation, gardens, atriums, and foliage.

Should I choose high voltage or low voltage?
That depends on whether you intend them for commercial or home landscape lighting. Business owners almost unanimously choose high voltage lighting due to the exceptionally bright levels of light produced by HID floodlights, and the high level of durability that high voltage lighting is generally known for.

Residential clients tend to gravitate more toward low voltage well lights or a hybridization of low voltage and high voltage well light fixtures. If a yard is big enough that it requires flood lighting, one can configure the system with floodlights in either corner of the yard to keep the property safe, then install low voltage lights throughout the interior landscape to showcase trees, ornamentation, foliage, gardens, and flower beds.

How do I know which fixture build to choose?
Moisture content and saline content of the atmosphere is the primary determining factor in making this choice. Some metals will not last long in coastal areas where there are high levels of salt in the air. Residential Landscape Lighting and Design organizes the major lamping options for grade level well lights under fixture category build so clients and design firms can quickly find the light source they require by simply going to the fixture material category and browsing through the options contained therein. The following is a general breakdown of what we offer:

Aluminum well lights offer the benefit of a very durable and cost effective fixture material source.
Both large and small companies can take advantage of the savings offered by aluminum well lights. Smaller single site companies can invest more in a designer’s creative services and less in the equipment itself---provided they are in a geography with low levels of salt content in the atmosphere.

Because RLLD has so many clients in coastal areas with high saline content in the atmosphere, we also provide identical lamping options in brass and copper well light fixtures.
Brass and copper offer an exceptional resiliency to both humidity and salt air, and clients living near beaches can light their weekend properties with the same lighting design techniques as inland companies and homeowners. We also recommend considering investing in LED lighting for additional cost savings in this area. Beach homes are by no means inexpensive, and the power saving benefits of LED well lights offer a substantial reduction in operating costs in popular coastal resort areas.

There are many different lamping options available in each of our fixture categories. It is wise to read through our entire selection, as well as consulting with a specialist to ensure you have selected the most appropriate components for your needs.

Click here to read more about well lights, and click here to Ask and Expert any question that comes to mind.

We seldom ever see a municipality or business entity with no trees whatsoever on property. We have yet to run across a homeowner with no trees in the yard, although we suspect that a few exist somewhere out there. Because of this fact, almost every landscape lighting kit we provide contains a down lighting as well as up lighting components. These are directional terms only do not refer to anything mysterious or technically complicated about landscape lighting kits themselves. Mercury Vapor Down Lighting means exactly what it says—shining light downward toward the ground, and up lighting means to shine the light upward. To effectively show all parts of a tree in the dead of night, one must combine these two lighting techniques so as to “wash” the tree in light. This allows viewers to clearly see the differentiation between leaves, branches, and the trunk regardless of viewing angle. Both sets of lights also have to be positioned in such a way as to illuminate the entirety of the tree’s canopy and not just the middle, vertical core.

Isn’t landscape lighting only something a professional can do?
Not necessarily. Landscape lighting kits enable private individuals to be their own lighting designers, particularly when it comes to lighting their favorite trees in both front and back yards. Provided that you are physically fit enough to climb a tree, and use environmentally safe tools that will not damage the tree, lighting and low voltage landscaping kits can transform your dark tree line along a fence or wall into an illuminated edifice of organic browns and living green. In the fall, the changing colors of leaves adds even more effect through Nature’s own hand, and even in the death of winter a well-lighted tree still speaks to the potential for new life in the Spring to come.

How do you know which landscape lighting kit to choose?
With a bit of simple math, you can quickly and easily determine tree canopy size by multiplying the width and height of the tree in feet. By then assessing the density of foliage and using your own best judgment to determine exactly how much emulated moonlight you personally prefer for a particular tree, you can easily find the high voltage landscape lighting kit just right for your favorite tree. RLLD has also included a corresponding chart to help you select the precise wattage level required for a tree of particular size and the necessary luminance to achieve optimal visibility according to one’s own outdoor decorative style and taste.

RLLD lighting specialists will help any serious inquirer at no cost.
For detailed product specifications, click on any of the landscaping lighting kits inventoried in this section of our website. Use our Ask an Expert web forum to get more information on the benefits and proper use of mercury vapor and metal halide lights. Contact us now, or give us a call at 800-239-2939, and let the light shine on the world’s most necessary and beloved form of vegetation in your personal landscape tonight.

How do I know which outdoor flush mounts to buy for my home, and which ones to place where?

The best place to begin is by taking some measurements first. The actual height and width of the ceiling and sidewall form the first set of guidelines for selecting the type of outdoor flush mounts you will use. A good rule of thumb to follow is: the lower the ceiling and the busier the traffic, the harder the fixture glass needs to be to prevent accidental breakage.

The circumference of the area to be lit is the next consideration to take into account. Areas where you will be entertaining guests need a broad, evenly distributed circle of light that both contains the activity and safely illuminates the area.

Surprisingly, clear glass often provides the highest level of sophisticated decoration and conjunctive luminosity in such instances. This is because clear glass can be blown with either beveled surfaces or multiple, refractive facets that scatter light like a prism. A flush mount light with a refractive clear glass fixture housing not only disperses the light over a wide area, but also hides the incandescent filament within, making the fixture itself appear as the source of light.

Do you have low voltage flush mount lighting fixtures?

All RLLD flush mount lights are 120V, so energy efficiency comes by selecting fluorescent bulbs as a functionally oriented lighting source alternative to incandescent bulbs. Garages, workshops, and other task-oriented areas can be just as well-lit by a fluorescent overhead as they can by an incandescent, and due to the fact they are left on longer, lower monthly electric bills add up over a period of many months to recreate a noticeable return on investment.

What specific types flush mount lights do you carry? Do you have any that are purely function or purely decorative?

The beauty of flush mounted outdoor lighting it that it combines to some degree the functional and the decorative in any piece you choose. Some models, of course, tend more toward the aesthetic while others are obviously designed more for lighting work areas like garages and sheds. Consequently, Residential Landscape Lighting and Design carries a wide range of flush mount types for outdoor lighting that address the broad spectrum of needs in a very highly diverse marketplace.

Some homes already have such powerful flood and landscape lights that they only require a decorative touch added to porch and patio ceilings. For these dwellings, we offer ornately designed outdoor flush mounts that feature soft white light and either globe or circular fixture design.

Lighting design consultants working in larger or custom-style homes can also recommend to their clients one of our many hand blown hanging lantern or brass finished flush mount lighting fixtures. These feature powerful incandescents whose photo metrics are refracted by the pattern of the hand blown glass in such a way as to create a bright luminous field of light around family and friends and compliment the home exterior with a traditional, early American-style or contemporary decorative flush mount fixture.

For outdoor walkways with overheard ceilings, RLLD provides its clients with a number of ceramic fixture designs that superbly compliment any row of wall sconces along the wall beneath. They can also be used as a porch light in certain instances, although for lower porch ceilings we recommend high impact glass porch lights that are designed specifically to minimize the risk of accidental breakage.

Contact RLLD at 800-239-2939 to find dozens of highly individualized models for specific lighting needs, and click here to read more about outdoor flush mounts in our full-length article on this subject.