Outdoor landscape lighting provides many benefits to a property and outdoor spaces such as enhancing visual aesthetics and keeping it secure.
This week’s blog post explores what makes a property vulnerable to burglars and highlights ways that professional outdoor landscape lighting installations can enhance security while elevating curb appeal. Discover outdoor landscape lighting strategies to include in your next outdoor landscape lighting installation that will help protect your clients’ property and outdoor spaces.
What Burglars Look for in an Ideal Target Property
Burglars can surveil a potential target before striking. They can watch and study the moving patterns of the inhabitants for days or weeks before making their move. Others may act immediately when they see an easy target. Many factors go into what makes a property ideal for burglars, such as:
- Timing: Burglars strike at a time when they think homes are unoccupied.
- Less Security: If a home seems like it is lacking in security measures such as cameras or lights, it becomes a likely target.
- Preferred Entry Points: Intruders are most likely to enter through easy entry points such as unlocked front doors, first floor windows, garages, and back doors.
- Indicators of Vulnerability: Overgrown lawns, broken fences or gates, or homes that aren’t taken care of are signs that the home isn’t inhabited or easy to break into. Lack of security systems and features such as cameras or alarms also make a home an easy target.
- Signs of Absence: Burglars want an uninhabited home. Piled up mail, left out trash cans, no cars in the driveway indicate that a home may be empty of inhabitants. They could also be scouting social media posts for confirmation of vacations or absences.
- Characteristics of Ideal Targets: Other characteristics that can make a property appealing to burglars include: isolated properties or properties that are hidden from view of others with features like tall fences or overgrown plants, properties in affluent areas that have expensive cars or visible valuables, and properties that are in the middle of the block.
Outdoor Landscape Lighting and Other Deterrents to Burglary
Focus on lighting critical areas of your clients’ property to improve security. These landscape lighting methods and tools will not only showcase the property’s beauty, but enhance security as well.
- Potential Entry Points: Be sure that potential entry points for burglars such as front doors, back doors, patios, and garage doors are properly lit. For example, well lightsare a great way to discreetly light a driveway. They allow for functionality, allowing easier visibility when entering or exiting the driveway at night, while also keeping this potential entry point well-lit for security purposes.
- Pathways: These areas lead directly to the property. Keeping them well-lit with path lightsincreases safety when navigation through the area at night, while deterring intruders.
- Perimeters and blind spots: Flood lightshave broad beams, allowing them to cover a big area. Use them to illuminate dark corners, fences, wooded areas, and other potential hiding places.
- Decks and Patios:Installing deck lights will ensures these areas are illuminated, leaving no chance for intruders to approach unnoticed.
- Downlighting and Moonlighting:Installed high in trees, downlights provide light for a large area below. It can also give a moonlight effect, where the light mimics natural moon light and gives a whimsical feel.
- Use of LEDs:LEDs are energy-efficient and cost-effective. They provide enough illumination without the drawbacks of other types of light bulbs.
- Motion sensors:These sensors will activate lights when movement is detected.
- Use of Timers and photocells:By integrating timers and photocells into the outdoor landscape lighting system, your clients can automatically control the lights and create the illusion of occupancy when they are away.
With a reliable and efficient outdoor landscape lighting system, you can assure your clients that their property is secure and less likely to be targeted.
Light the Way to Safer, More Beautiful Outdoor Spaces with LightCh8in
One way to increase the security around a property is by installing a powerful and reliable outdoor landscape lighting system. After all, a well-lit property is not a suitable target for unwanted guests nor burglars.
A LightCh8in account is free! Log in or register for an account to explore our inventory that covers everything you need for any outdoor landscape lighting project. From brass outdoor light fixtures, waterproof connectors, direct burial cable, LED lamps, and more, you will find the right lighting you need to securely and stylishly light up any outdoor space.