Help on soffit light locations

[lancelyons]

Hi, I was looking to setup soffit lights for my home spaced out every 8 feet but my son convinced me its not the right way. Now back to square one and trying to figure out the best location for these 4 in soffit lights. i am looking for any suggestions on proper spacing so I avoid installing lights that dont look right. I took a picture of the front of my home and converted it to a drawing so below is the front of my home and what I am now leaning toward. How do you figure this out without placing lights and then adjusting which you cant do after you cut 4 inch holes in soffit. I also have a total of 12 soffit lights to also do the two sides but will come back to those. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.





my thoughts on the proper location

 

[billconner]

I think I'd center them on brick or stone (?) sections, and as far away from wall as practical. I can't tell if center section is recessed or ? but might add something different there. Do not want them near door jambs IMHO, nor shining in windows.

 

[lancelyons]

The Center section is recessed. I had always heard to start with the corners of the house for sure.

 

[The Cobbler]

one in each corner, 1 centred in the brick facade to the left of the house, 1 centred between the door & window, 1 centred over the door

 

[billconner]

Not keen on corners. For fun I googled images "soffit lighting" and saw few on corners, and didn't care for those few that did.

I'd be bothered how beam in recess will read so differently than those not in recess and how it interacts with coach light.

No solutions, just sharing thoughts.

I'd like to hold one over column and see how that looked.....

 

[infinkc]

Curious why you are going for soffit lighting?

Some low voltage landscape lighting pointing at some walls/bushes I think would give a much better appeal.

I have some neighbors with soffit lighting and it just looks like a party house.

 

[Stuart in MN]

What is the intent of the lights? Accent lighting, security, or ? What effect are you looking for, continuous light wash across the whole front of the house, or spots? Hopefully the lights you purchased have some photometric information that describes how the light distribution underneath them will look.

If it were my house, and for my needs, I'd just have a single light over the front door but that's just me.

 

[ddurrett896]

Spaced evenly, where they don't land over a window.

 

[stubbsrodandcustom]

My old buddies house had them, let me try to drive by there tonight and see if the new owner turns them on still.

 

[flippin]

I like the addition of soffit lights for security and esthetic reasons. Having done this at my home my only recommendation would be to;

(1) keep the lumens low. As someone mentioned too much light and it will look like a party house. I just used 4" led pot lights from Amazon with the lowest light output. 750 lumens was a bit too much, anything lower will look nicer.

(2) many led pot lights are temperature adjustable but if they aren't, 3000k looks the best. The idea is to highlight your home and a warm light looks much more romantic than an ultra cold white light. I would also make sure to purchase a few bulbs of the same temperature for any other outdoor light fixtures. It looks funny if all of the outdoor lights do not put off the same glow.

(3) soffit lights are so cheap now. And though led manufacturers will have you believe that they will last for 10 zillion years, purchase a few extras in case of failures. Light output and temperature would be my justification for having an exact replacement.

(4) not sure if you are a fan of automation, but I am slowly replacing most of the light switches with the wifi variety. I enjoy having outdoor lights turn on 20 minutes after local sunset and turn off at 11:27pm. I also like being able to switch them on from my phone. Again price is making these things quite affordable. They work like normal switches of course and if you're not very technical your son should be easily able to set this up for you. If you have Google or Alexa in the home then all the more reason.

(5) as for spacing, start at the corners and create symmetry. I suspect you already have an existing front door light. Having a front door light allows you to space symmetrically along the front wall without concern for having a soffit light line-up with the entrance.

Hope this helps
-Paul

 

[dave*99]

A neighbor has a 2 story Colonial with 4 evenly spaced windows on the second floor and 5 evenly spaced soffit lights. Looks about right.

Given the architecture of the OP's house - and the concern to balance evenly spaced lights yet have them shine on the right spots of the front of the house..... nope.. I'd use landscape lights.

If the wife left me no choice but to add soffit lights, they would be centered over the brick sections. But I may forget to turn them on.

I don't hate soffit lights. I recall seeing some very nice implementations, but they are on large 2 story houses with lots of wall sections between windows. I'm sure this post will generate dozens of posts of 1 story houses with soffit lights. Not a bad thing...

YMMV

 

[lancelyons]

What is the intent of the lights? Accent lighting, security, or ? What effect are you looking for, continuous light wash across the whole front of the house, or spots? Hopefully the lights you purchased have some photometric information that describes how the light distribution underneath them will look.

If it were my house, and for my needs, I'd just have a single light over the front door but that's just me.

Hi Stuart,

My intent was to high light some of the outside feature of the house (make it look better) at night while improving security a bit. I am also looking at some up lighting in a few areas to compliment. Although I dont have a AC outlet outside and im not sure how good the solar charged landscape lights are.

 

[lancelyons]

I like the addition of soffit lights for security and esthetic reasons. Having done this at my home my only recommendation would be to;

(1) keep the lumens low. As someone mentioned too much light and it will look like a party house. I just used 4" led pot lights from Amazon with the lowest light output. 750 lumens was a bit too much, anything lower will look nicer.

(2) many led pot lights are temperature adjustable but if they aren't, 3000k looks the best. The idea is to highlight your home and a warm light looks much more romantic than an ultra cold white light. I would also make sure to purchase a few bulbs of the same temperature for any other outdoor light fixtures. It looks funny if all of the outdoor lights do not put off the same glow.

(3) soffit lights are so cheap now. And though led manufacturers will have you believe that they will last for 10 zillion years, purchase a few extras in case of failures. Light output and temperature would be my justification for having an exact replacement.

(4) not sure if you are a fan of automation, but I am slowly replacing most of the light switches with the wifi variety. I enjoy having outdoor lights turn on 20 minutes after local sunset and turn off at 11:27pm. I also like being able to switch them on from my phone. Again price is making these things quite affordable. They work like normal switches of course and if you're not very technical your son should be easily able to set this up for you. If you have Google or Alexa in the home then all the more reason.

(5) as for spacing, start at the corners and create symmetry. I suspect you already have an existing front door light. Having a front door light allows you to space symmetrically along the front wall without concern for having a soffit light line-up with the entrance.

Hope this helps
-Paul

Hi Paul, On your light switches, which ones are you using to add in the automation? did they go in the wall behind the normal light switch? I would like to do this for the outside soffit lights as well.

 

[dave*99]

All my exterior (and some interior lights) are on these switches and dimmers. You can program them to do anything you can imagine. Very easy.

Decora Smart 15 Amp Wi-Fi Smart Rocker Light Switch with Alexa, Google and HomeKit 2nd Gen, White

 

[flippin]

Hi Paul, On your light switches, which ones are you using to add in the automation? did they go in the wall behind the normal light switch? I would like to do this for the outside soffit lights as well.

These are the ones I used when we did a big renovation and built the Boat House. I suspect that you may have many more options today. That said the Topgreener smart switches and plugs have worked flawlessly for me for the past 3 years. They integrated nicely with google/nest and the app has been very stable. They also make a 3-way switch but the wiring is very unconventional. It works perfectly but I am not sure how well it will retrofit if you are using existing wiring. The dimmers which are controllable from the app also work nicely both in function and with Google. It's so convenient to say "hey google turn on garage office to 10%"

Given that you are starting fresh and that a few years has passed (an eternity with this stuff) I would certainly encourage you to shop amazon and read comments.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D8YR75X/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Cheers

 

[mrVanagon]

This is a text-book application for low-voltage landscape lights.

 

[dave*99]

Hi Stuart,

My intent was to high light some of the outside feature of the house (make it look better) at night while improving security a bit. I am also looking at some up lighting in a few areas to compliment. Although I dont have a AC outlet outside and im not sure how good the solar charged landscape lights are.

I ran the low voltage wires into the basement. Then put the transformer/timer in the basement.

 

[Zeke]

I'll chime in by summing up what has been said and what the consensus is because I agree. Low level lights centered on the masonry. 4, no more. I also agree with landscaping lighting as it can be placed well out in front of the house. I'd use those as feature lights on the plants. They cast nice shadows and the soffit lights will act as fill for the full effect.

Not having a receptacle available for the landscape transformer can't be that big of a problem. They run fat wire for a reason. It's meant to have longer runs.

What you do on the side is your business but I like motion lights.

 

[bluedog225]

Motion lights seem like much better security. And dark sky considerations favor soffits if you care about that sort of thing.

 

[lancelyons]

Thanks everybody for the great suggestions.