Types of Walkway and Driveway Lighting Solutions
Lighting up your driveway is an easy way to make a stellar first impression with visitors to your home. After all, what good is having the most beautiful driveway in the neighborhood if you can’t see it at night? Along with the safety and security reasons to add lights to your driveway, having a lighted drive makes your home much more inviting to guests and extends the warm welcome from the moment they turn off the road to visit!
In this Driveway Guides article, we’re going to cover the various ways you can add lighting to your driveway. From basic street lights to properly positioned spots, and the newest solar lighting for driveways, we’ll help you choose the right type for your driveway, your budget, and your home.
Style and Types of Driveway Lights
The first thing you should decide on, is the type or style of driveway lighting you want to install. There are lights that are installed into the actual driveway (like the picture above) that cast a warm glowing light, 6-8 foot post lights like you see on most roads, and spot light kits that mount to trees or other structures and shine the light in a directional way. For owners of brick paver driveways, there are lights which are the exact size as your bricks, which are spaced out according toy our tastes, and lit up with low voltage wiring.
- Free Standing Lamp Post Style Lighting (6-12 feet tall)
- Short Post Dome Style Lights (12-24 inches tall)
- Wall or Structure Mounted Lighting
- In-Ground or Paver Driveway light Kits
Bulb Types and Power Sources
After you have decided on the best type of driveway light for your personal taste and the appearance you’re trying to achieve, you should look at the different bulbs and power sources. For your power sources, there are only two ways to light up a bulb and that’s with electricity from your local utility company, or solar power provided from the sunshine above.
The bulb you choose is going to determine how much of that power is needed to provide lighting, and thus your ultimate choice. If you have an abundance of lighted area around your driveway that will provide 6-12 hours of direct sunlight to each of the individual lights, you may want to look at solar powered options first. If you need to install a remotely located solar panel, the benefits of inexpensive driveway lights may be lost with the cost of a large solar panel. For solar driveway lighting, you will probably want to focus on Low Voltage and LED bulbs, that use very little energy, and are perfect for solar-powered lighting.
If you plan to connect to your home’s electricity, your choices for lighting are only limited by your imagination! Along with the low voltage and LED light bulbs, you can create a much stronger and brighter lighting with fluorescent lights, HID (high intensity discharge), Halogen lights and much more.
Driveways are the first impression a guest has when visiting your home and can add to the curb appeal when you show your home for sale. Lighting their way to your front door not only makes them feel more secure, it can make every visitor feel welcome before they ever ring the doorbell!
