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

[Red Squirrel]

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.

 

[lxskllr]

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.

 

[WilliamM2]

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:


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.

 

[Red Squirrel]

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.

 

[lxskllr]

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.

 

[WilliamM2]

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.

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.

 

[Ginger_McDou21]

Honestly both ways "work", but symmetry ain’t just about walls and doors, it’s about how your eye feels walking up at night. If you line to the door, you get balance with function, if you center, you get balance with space. Sometimes design is less about perfect math and more about what you want people to notice first.

 

[lxskllr]

You could also use some plants out there. That front is just begging for a tree.

 

[pete6032]

Another vote for red.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You could also use some plants out there. That front is just begging for a tree.

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.

 

[sdifox]

You need yellow nights in the middle.

 

[bbhaag]

Red dots for sure.

 

[iRONic]

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.

 

[iRONic]

Sorry for the ^gigantic^ pic. *facepalm*

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

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.

 

[Sukhoi]

Of the two choices, definitely red. Green would look strange with the different width walls.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

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.

 

[sdifox]

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.

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]

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.

I figured his first concern was keeping meth head tweakers out of his truck. No reason he can't add some curb appeal in the process.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

WTF with the floodlight love in this thread.

People taking nice looking houses and then lighting them up like a high security prison will always leave me scratching my head.

 

[sdifox]

WTF with the floodlight love in this thread.

People taking nice looking houses and then lighting them up like a high security prison will always leave me scratching my head.

you don't live in a snow covered environment xd

 

[jmagg]

Why not both? Lanterns on a wall switch, and floods on a motion switch.
This is a decent motion flood.

Amazon.com

 

[Red Squirrel]

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.

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.

 

[sdifox]

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.

IR Motion sensor tied in to quad minigun

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

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.