If you are considering a new outdoor landscape lighting system for your Winter Park home, or looking to replace an existing outdoor lighting system, there are a number of things which you need to consider. One of the first things people consider is the overall style that that want in their lighting system. A very close second, is budget. Choosing the right style for your landscape lights is really only half the decision as you need to pay close attention to which material you choose for overall durability and longevity. The climate and weather conditions for your locale must be taken into account. Choosing cheaper materials might save you money in the short term but will cost you much more in the long run. For example, aluminum lighting fixtures usually have a life span of approximately two to three years, while milled brass landscape lighting fixtures come with a 25-year warranty.

In this day and age of fast paced lifestyles, people are too often focused on the present and don’t think so much about the future. You see this happening with consumers preferring to buy cheap products now, and not considering how long they’ll last. The concept of buying something once and buying it right seems to have completely left the marketplace as a whole. When it comes to landscape lights, you are considering a product which will have to stay strong in the face of all sorts of weather conditions and withstand knocks from gardening tools, pets and children playing. This is why I don’t like to use aluminum landscape lighting fixtures for our Orlando area installations, as they simply don’t have this durability which is so important. A landscape lighting system is a significant investment. You should not have to replace it every few years and always worry about when it will have to be replaced or repaired next.

When it comes to outdoor lighting systems, the main choices are copper, brass or powder aluminum coating for the fixtures. Copper and brass are by far the standout materials with aluminum coming in at last place every time. The sun’s UV rays affect aluminum fixtures in a big way, discoloring them and leading to them chipping and peeling over time. Aluminum lighting fixtures also don’t deal with harsh weather conditions as well as their copper and brass counterparts. When faced with harsh elements such as irrigation, rain, frost and other factors such as animal urine, aluminum fixtures become more susceptible to breaking with even gentle contact. Copper and brass, on the other hand, are much better able to withstand these harsh environmental factors.

Aluminum landscape lighting fixtures are also a poor choice when you consider the heat generated by halogen bulbs. The majority of the time, the heat generated by these bulbs causes them to wear severely compared with their copper or brass counterparts. The heat from the halogen bulbs causes the aluminum to contract and expand and the material just doesn’t handle it well. At Elegant Custom Images, we use LED bulbs, which are more energy efficient. LEDs are typically integrated with the aluminum fixture, so you’d have to spend money to replace the entire fixture, bulb and all, when the fixture fails, even though the LED is still working fine.

Overall, copper and brass landscape lighting fixtures are more durable, age better and handle environmental elements without chipping, breaking or fading in color. They far out perform aluminum landscape lighting fixtures and for these reasons I don’t use aluminum lighting fixtures and I recommend you don’t either.

For more information about installing landscape lighting at your Winter Park or Windermere home, contact Elegant Custom Images at 321-217-7822.