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Outdoor garage wall light placement, centre to wall or keep same distance from door?

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
I'm thinking of adding 2 outdoor lights on my garage, since I'm finishing the inside so it's now or never while I still have access. Problem is one side has a bigger wall than the other, just because of how the house is made. What is generally the approach to take here, do I centre the light to the wall (green), or keep a uniform distance from garage door (red)?

I'm leaning towards the red option, but just want a second opinion.

IMG_20250529_194739.jpg
 
I like red also, but what about one light centered on the right? Gets rid of the whole debate, and should still provide enough light for the front, especially combined with a porch light.
 
What kind of light? I prefer dual flood lights, to light up the whole drive. But I can't tell from the pic how long the drive is.

Mine is mounted Here:
IMG_20250529_194739.jpg

Lights up the drive, and most of my front yard. Didn't you say security is an issue in your area?
I do have about 3.5 ft. of space above the door though.
 
Have not decided on fixture yet as I'm just at the stage of doing the wiring, probably something like this, I kinda want two for symmetry, but I guess I could get away with just one given the odd wall situation and I won't really get proper symmetry anyway. Driveway is roughly 2 car lengths long. I have a camera at the right corner within the soffit (not seen in that pic as it's older) and it gets a pretty good picture already so don't need tons of light just enough to improve the situation.

Pic just to give an idea of camera view as is. There is a street light, but it's the newer LED ones which don't have diffusers so the light doesn't spread much.

Screenshot from 2025-09-28 21-23-49.png
 
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Maybe take a walk through the neighborhood, and see if anyone else did something interesting. Might give you an idea of what different options look like.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Have not decided on fixture yet as I'm just at the stage of doing the wiring, probably something like this, I kinda want two for symmetry, but I guess I could get away with just one given the odd wall situation and I won't really get proper symmetry anyway. Driveway is roughly 2 car lengths long. I have a camera at the right corner within the soffit (not seen in that pic as it's older) and it gets a pretty good picture already so don't need tons of light just enough to improve the situation.

Pic just to give an idea of camera view as is. There is a street light, but it's the newer LED ones which don't have diffusers so the light doesn't spread much.
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Looks like you don't need flood lights. Mine is about 130' long . I need the lighting for snow blowing in the dark.
I'd go with the red spots, it will look more symmetrical if they are an equal distance from the door on each side. If you center them on each wall, it will look odd since the walls are different widths.
 
lxskllr said:
You could also use some plants out there. That front is just begging for a tree.
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I actually used to have a tree right in front but it was splitting down the middle so I cut it down before it falls on the house. I sometimes contemplate planting another though. I do have a spruce tree that's out of frame on the left side.
 
Not a fan of those types of lights. I prefer the center mount LED floodlights.

Low glow beauty ring comes on dusk to dawn, I set the motion floods to trigger @75’. Those illuminate the driveway & both side walkways.
 
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Neither.

I'd hang fixtures from the soffitt at equal distances along the front, 4, maybe 5 of them. Something that angles forward towards the yard. Combined, they'd light the entire yard, not just the drive.

They don't need to be high power. 7 watt landscape type floods LEDs would probably do nicely.
 
Some of you have no taste. Those ultrabright flood lights make really harsh light. Get a couple decent sconces for the garage. And replace the light by the entrance door with the same model. I think the red dots are too close to the edge though.
 
Mr.IncrediblyBored said:
Some of you have no taste. Those ultrabright flood lights make really harsh light. Get a couple decent sconces for the garage. And replace the light by the entrance door with the same model. I think the red dots are too close to the edge though.
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He's in Timmins. The harsh lights are the only visible lights in winter and winter is like 3/4 of the year in Timmins.
 
Mr.IncrediblyBored said:
Some of you have no taste. Those ultrabright flood lights make really harsh light. Get a couple decent sconces for the garage. And replace the light by the entrance door with the same model. I think the red dots are too close to the edge though.
Click to expand...

Yeah think I will go with red, they won't be that close though, I will probably go like a full brick width at least. I don't really want full blown flood lights this is mostly just to add some lighting in an otherwise pitch black area. If I wanted to get fancy I could set these up so they go brighter when Frigate (NVR) detects a human but for now I'll keep it simple and just have it on a timer.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Yeah think I will go with red, they won't be that close though, I will probably go like a full brick width at least. I don't really want full blown flood lights this is mostly just to add some lighting in an otherwise pitch black area. If I wanted to get fancy I could set these up so they go brighter when Frigate (NVR) detects a human but for now I'll keep it simple and just have it on a timer.
Click to expand...
IR Motion sensor tied in to quad minigun
 
That's why I said landscape type. Gently light the front more evenly.

Or go RGB strip type where you can adjust the color and brightness a bit.

Can also be set for holiday effects.
 
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