So you’re planning on renovating your Landscaping and would rather use a Professional Landscape Lighting Design and Build Specialist for the lighting  portion

18 May So you’re planning on renovating your Landscaping and would rather use a Professional Landscape Lighting Design and Build Specialist for the lighting  portion

By Mike Gambino

First of all congratulations for your good judgment and for realizing there is a difference and a distinct advantage to hiring a professional landscape Lighting Design and Build specialist instead of the company that will be remodeling your landscaping for the best results after dark for your project.

Gambino Landscape Lighting can help!  Not only can we do the landscape lighting , we can recommend the sequence of work and coordinate with the landscaper so that it’s done as efficiently as possible.

Step 1:  After demolition and the existing plants and lawn have been removed and soil amendment and rough grading is done

Install conduit and distribution boxes for main lighting cables

Once the demolition of the garden has been completed and soil has been rotary tilled and rough graded, and before or during sprinkler work it’s a perfect time to have us in to install the infrastructure or backbone of your landscape lighting system.  Ideally this can be done while sprinkler mains go in. 120 volt Power, controller and Transformer/s locations are determined at this time. Conduits are installed from transformer/s locations to distribution boxes which we locate in various areas of the garden to feed fixtures located in vicinity of these boxes. As an added bonus, if the existing trees and large shrubs remain or have already been installed, we can install our secondary conduits from distribution boxes to where the lights will be installed.

The benefit of getting the main conduit in early on in the renovating process is that minimal disturbance to the newly planted garden will occur at this time and the work goes faster saving labor costs.  It’s better to have these pipes installed before the new plants and other finishes go in.

Getting conduit piping in while the soil has been loosened is more efficient, so it saves time, which in turn saves money.

Step 2:  After Trees and large shrubs have been installed

The next phase of renovating would be to have us in after the trees and larger shrubs have been installed.

This phase would consist of the following:

• Installing the balance of secondary or power feeds to the fixtures
• Installing fixtures and transformer/s
• Pulling in main cables and secondary cables that go from transformer/s to distribution boxes and then to power each fixture at their location
• Connecting fixtures to secondary power cable feeds and connect these cables with mains that terminate inside distribution boxes, Connect power cables inside transformers
• Once all fixtures are installed and connected Turn system on and load balance the system so each distribution box has 12 volts or as close to 12 volts as possible.

At this point the project would be complete, except for adjustments and touch ups

Step 3:  Final adjustments once lawns, smaller plants, flowers etc. have been installed

Although most landscapers are careful, there is always some wear and tear from putting the finishing touches on a landscaping project.  So we recommend allowing for us to come out at night, tweak and make any final adjustments if needed, which can be scheduled shortly after the landscaper has left the site.

Final thoughts to consider when planning your landscape renovation project

You should allow enough time in your renovation schedule that final lighting work can occur when there are no other trades on site at the end of the project. In other words the lighting crew should be the absolute last trade to finish up their work.  As careful as other trades are, the more of them that are onsite, the more damage or disturbance that is likely to happen to the system.

If you’d like to have Gambino Landscape Lighting handle the lighting portion of your landscape renovation project why don’t you book a consult?  We’d be happy to Transform your home with a lasting beautiful high performance landscape lighting system that is designed and built to last!

This landscape lighting blog is published by Mike Gambino of Gambino landscape lighting inc. all rights reserved. Mike is a professional landscape lighting system designer/ builder and has been designing, installing and maintaining landscape lighting systems for more than 28 years. Mike resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife and 2 sons. To visit his website go to www.Gambinolighting.com . To inquire about hiring Mike please click here .

Blog articles may be published with permission on other websites without editing or removing links.