Christmas Light Installation: Design, Install, Takedown and Storage|Hiring a Christmas Light Installer What the Job Includes
Why people stop doing it themselves The job looks easy from the ground, then it takes a Saturday. Add the second story, a roof with a real pitch to it, and the fact that December in the Upstate can be wet, and the math changes. What you should be getting The job breaks into a few pieces, and the last one is the one people forget. First a design, drawn for your house rather than pulled off a shelf. Then the install, handled by people who do this all season. Then upkeep thro
Eave and Soffit Lighting, Understanding the Mounting Line|Why the Eave Is the Right Place for the Track: The Practical Reasons|The Roof Edge Explained: Which Part Is Which
First, which part is which The roof edge has parts with names, and the names are worth two minutes. Fascia: the board at the edge. Soffit: the underside. Eave: the overhang itself.You will not need this vocabulary often, but it turns up in every proposal in this trade, and quotes are hard to compare when you are not sure what is being described. When somebody says the run follows the fascia, you know exactly what they mean. The reason for that spot The mounting line is not
Christmas Light Installation, Design, Install, Takedown and Storage|Should You Hire Out Your Christmas Light Installation?
The case for handing it off The job seems small in the driveway, then it takes a Saturday. Add the steep pitch, gutters you would rather not lean on, and weather that does not cooperate, and the math changes. What a real installation service includes The job has four parts, and the last two are the ones people forget to ask about. It starts with a design for the house: which lines get lit, what color, how it reads from the street. Then the install, done by a crew with the
Accent Lighting for Your Home: Picking What Deserves the Light|How Does Accent Lighting Differ From Everything Else? A Plain Answer|Using Accent Lighting Well: Less Is the Whole Technique
What the word actually means The difference between accent lighting and general lighting is intent. It is not coverage. Point it at one tree, one column, one entry and stop. The dark part is not a gap in the plan. It is the other half of the effect.That is really the whole idea, and it is not complicated. Choose a small number of things and let the rest of the property stay dark. The pull is always to light one more thing, and holding it is the entire skill. What tends to
Custom Outdoor Lighting Plans: What You Should Be Handed Before You Sign|Is Your Lighting Quote Actually a Design? Four Questions That Settle It|Custom Lighting Design Explained More Than the Hardware Does
Every quote calls itself custom Custom appears on almost every outdoor lighting quote in existence. It costs nothing to say and it is not a claim anybody checks. What is worth checking is whether there is an actual design behind it, because a design is a document and a package is a price.That is the whole distinction, and it survives every sales conversation. A package is a price with a description attached. A design begins at your house. Both are legitimate ways to sell. O
Permanent Holiday Lights: A Guide for Homeowners Tired of the Ladder|Should You Install Permanent Holiday Lights? Here Is What to Weigh
Holiday lighting that does not come down These get installed one time and stay put. That is the whole pitch, and it holds up better than it sounds. The hardware is a low profile LED channel installed along your roofline, color matched to your trim so it does not stand out during the day. Not just the one week in December Christmas is what starts the conversation, though it ends up being one setting among many. Orange for Halloween. Red, white and blue in July. School color
Lighting for Curb Appeal, How Light Changes the View From the Road|How Does Outdoor Lighting Affect Curb Appeal? Here Is What Changes|Nighttime Curb Appeal: A Homeowner's Guide
Curb appeal is usually judged at two in the afternoon People spend real money on the front of a house: paint, shutters, a new door, beds, mulch, a walkway. All of it is designed for daylight. Then the sun goes down and none of it is visible. For a solid stretch of the year, most passersby only ever see the house at night.None of that requires much: an outline, a focal point, and matched color. The uncommon part is thinking about it before the sun goes down, rather than the
Outdoor Living Space Lighting: Lighting the Space You Actually Sit In|How to Light a Patio|Patio Lighting That Gets Used: A Homeowner's Guide
The back of the house is not curb appeal The front of a property is a view. Out back the light is around you, not in front of you. That flips most of the design rules. Nobody is grading the back yard from the street. The only test is whether anybody wants to sit there.All of which is a long way of saying the back yard is its own project. The front and the back rarely get solved by the same fixtures, and one light over the door is the usual result of not planning it. Two spa