Is Outdoor Lighting Safe For Pets?

When completing any work on your home, you have to consider the whole family and how they will be affected. As any pet owner knows, your pet is part of the family, and they have to be considered when you plan on adding outdoor lighting to your home. When working on a lighting design with professionals, pet owners often wonder, is outdoor lighting safe for pets? Houston Lightscapes discusses how outdoor lighting is installed and how it affects your pets.

Is Outdoor Lighting Safe For Pets?

The easy answer? It depends. Pets have a mind of their own and they have certain habits that make outdoor work dangerous or difficult. Outdoor lighting is no different. While overwhelmingly, outdoor lighting can be safe for your pets, there are things that should be considered when installing it for the safety of your pet(s). 

Pets have a bad habit of digging through things and chewing things. This means that if you have outdoor lighting installed, pets can damage various fixtures and wiring. This can also pose a potential threat to their well-being. Like any form of wiring, if a dog or cat gets a hold of it, it can be damaging both for them and for your lighting system. They can shock themselves, blow a fuse, or break a fixture. Designers should take into account any pets you may have when installing your system. 

How Is Landscape Lighting Installed?

Houston Lightscapes installs landscape lighting in a non-invasive way. We start by installing a transformer on the external wall of your home. The type of transformer depends on the size of the lighting system you’ve requested. Houston Lightscapes uses custom fixtures that are specific to our company, and once the transformer is installed, we will assemble all LED lights and fixtures with our industry-approved bulbs. The last step in the installation process is burying the wires. While some companies cause damage to the yard through the digging process, we are very discreet. We bury the wire 10 inches deep and cover it up effectively. This ensures minimal damage to your yard but the wire is still deep enough that it won’t bother your pets.

There are some steps you can take to prevent damage to your lighting system or harm to your pet. 

Protecting Your Pets

If you’re concerned about your lighting system after it’s installed and the wire is buried, there are some steps you can take. Pets have a tendency to dig through things and chew on things. If you’re concerned about this, you can try using decorative rocks and features to place over wiring and around fixtures. This creates a barrier between your pets and your system. You can also play around with adding different levels to your yard such as elevated flower beds or a manmade elevated perimeter. 
If you have further questions about the steps we can take to protect your pets and your new lighting system, set up a free consultation with Houston Lightscapes.