If you don’t currently have any exterior lighting to illuminate your garage door and the space in front of it, you may wish to rectify this situation soon. As garage door installation and repair specialists, we see thousands of garage doors every year and those that have proper illumination have a number of advantages to offer in our experience. In this blog post, we’re going to examine those advantages and why they are important, not just to homeowners in Littleton but to people all over the world. We are also going to discuss what type of lighting to install, in the event you decide to follow our advice. And if you do decide to install new lighting after you have finished reading, please don’t hesitate to contact us for assistance, especially if you happen to live in our service area.
Adding Exterior Lighting to Overhead Doors: The Advantages
There are a number of potential benefits that exterior garage door lighting has to offer, including the following:
- Additional Security – It is probably fair to say that security is the single most important benefit exterior garage door lighting has to offer, even if it is far from the only one. A well-illuminated garage door is an unappealing prospect to criminals as far as home invasions are concerned. Burglars and other types of intruders like to work in the dark, away from the observant eyes of neighbors and passers-by.
- Improved Safety – Criminals may shy away from the light but, for the rest of us, adequate illumination is essential to our safety. By installing bright new lights that shine on your garage door and the area in front of it, you will be making your home a safer place for you and your family. No longer will you have to worry about stumbling around in the dark when you arrive home late at night. With bold exterior garage door lighting, you will be able to safely navigate your way around the exterior of your property during the hours of darkness.
- Enhanced Appearance – Aesthetics may not be as important as safety and security, but they are nonetheless a vital consideration as far as the vast majority of homeowners are concerned. As our garage door sales team knows only too well, the visual appearance of an overhead door is as important as its build quality or functionality to many customers. If you don’t want to fit a new garage door but you would like to improve the appearance of your existing one, exterior lighting could be the perfect solution. A quality outdoor lighting installation can transform the appearance of an otherwise dull-looking garage door, a fact that has helped to make this type of lighting very popular with homeowners who want to boost the curb appeal of their properties.
These are the primary reasons for installing garage door lighting in residential properties across the USA and in other parts of the world too. Now you know why this type of lighting is so important, let’s move on to discuss the different types of lighting you can install.
The Right Exterior Lighting for Your Garage Door Installation
If you are already convinced of the need for lighting for your home's garage, the first thing you need to consider is the best type of exterior lighting to install. Among the most popular choices in Littleton and the surrounding area are the following:
- Overhead Spotlights – Powerful spotlights, one over each door of your garage, will provide a simple yet very effective solution to your exterior garage door lighting needs. Whether you choose LED or halogen lamps, they should do an excellent job of illuminating your garage doors, helping you to see what you are doing when walking in front of your garage after sunset. Halogen spotlights are cheaper in terms of initial investment but LED spotlights should last longer, making them the more environmentally friendly choice.
- Overhead Strip Lighting – A cheaper and more compact alternative to overhead spotlights is overhead strip lighting. Simple fluorescent lighting, affixed to the wall above your garage doors will ensure there is adequate illumination for you and your family when darkness falls. The biggest disadvantage of fluorescent strip lighting is the fact that it is relatively inefficient when compared to alternative lighting technologies available today, such as LED. However, if you are looking for the least expensive lighting solution, it could be worth considering strip lighting, even if just as a temporary solution while you consider all other options.
- Wall-Mounted Side Lanterns – Overhead lighting may be very effective as far as illuminating garage doors and property exteriors are concerned but it is far from the most aesthetically pleasing of solutions. If you would like to enhance your property's curb appeal as well as make security and safety improvements, wall-mounted lanterns, one on either side of each garage door, are a great alternative. Wall-mounted lanterns can be found in a huge variety of styles, making it easy to find ones that will complement your property perfectly.
- Sconces – If you haven’t come across them before, sconces are light fixtures that are designed to be affixed directly to the walls of properties, both inside and out. Often made in the style of candles or antique lamps, they are a more decorative lighting solution that should offer a similar performance to wall-mounted side lanterns. Whether one or the other is the best choice for your home will depend on your personal preferences and the exterior décor of the property in which you live.
- Freestanding Floodlights – If space is not an issue, and you would light the maximum amount of illumination possible, you may wish to consider installing freestanding floodlights in a convenient location. Commercial-quality floodlights, either LED or halogen, will throw as much light as you could ever need on your garage door, and on the area directly in front of it. In our travels as garage door repair and installation experts, we have seen a number of striking floodlight installations that work very well in terms of both aesthetics and functionality.
There are many other types of garage door lighting you may wish to consider. Those listed above are simply the most commonly seen in this neighborhood, and other suburban neighborhoods across the USA. If you are interested in a new garage door installation, with beautiful lighting to highlight it, please feel free to call and ask about our services. We offer a full range of overhead door services in this part of the country, including garage door installation and garage door repair in Littleton.