Outdoor Considerations for Aging-in-Place: Tips for Outdoor Lighting

As homeowners age, many look for ways to adapt their home to their changing needs, a process called “aging-in-place.” In previous posts we’ve looked at a number of the most pressing areas for renovations throughout a home, including the kitchen, bathrooms, and more. But what about the outside of the house?

In this two-part series, we’ll look at two of the most important considerations outside the home: outdoor lighting and ramps. First up, let’s turn our attention to lighting.

3 Top Tools for Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor lighting is particularly significant wherever you enter your home – around doors, porches, driveways, and garages. There are a number of tools and additions available to make these spaces as bright, safe, and accessible as possible:

1) Timers

You can program timers to always light spaces such as walkways, stairs, decks, and porches at a given time, so you’ll always have a well-lit space but never have to worry about it.

An important note: make sure your automatically timed lights illuminate any stairs you may have at both the top and bottom, so you or your visitors can travel all the way up and down with ease.

2) Motion Detectors

Your options for lighting the outside of your home at a particular time aren’t limited to timers. Perhaps you want to be sure that the lights come on whenever you go outside for a certain task, but it won’t always be at the same time.

In this case, motion detectors may be the right choice for you. Using infrared technology, motion detectors can be set to illuminate a setting –either indoors or outdoors – whenever they sense movement. If you come home late with groceries, the motion detectors will ensure your path is lit. They can provide an extra sense of security as well.

3) Home automation

If you’d rather not use timers or motion detectors, it’s also possible to put the control directly in your hands through home automation. Using small handheld devices similar to garage openers, and in some cases even smartphone or tablet apps, you can control your lighting directly from anywhere in your house.

For more information on home automation and lighting control, one good source is Lutron.com.

Conclusion

The above tools offer a range of ways to achieve your outdoor lighting needs as you age in place. In our next post, we’ll look at some critical considerations related to ramps.

For more useful information, check out the Northwood Construction’s blog.