Interior Lighting and Home Safety

Home Interior Lighting and Safety

Interior Lighting Also Adds Security

A house sitting dark all evening tells an intruder that no one is home. But so does a light burning in the living room window all day. Timers are an useful and effective way to solve the problem.

Program the light in the main living area to turn on in the evening and shut off at bedtime. This promotes overall safety and security while also being convenient.

When setting timers for vacation think strategically. A single light left on in the house won’t fool anyone. Set lights to come on and off in varying rooms and at different times throughout the day and early evening.  If you have a multi-day timer,  set it do that your lights come on at different times each night.

Some timers allow random settings: for example. The lights turn on at 8:30 one evening, 8:15 the next and 8:03 the third. Anyone studying the house will notice the different times and assume people are home.

Assess the interior lighting from the exterior of your home. Turn the lights on and then go outside and take a look. What do you notice? Is there too much lighting around one window permitting visibility into the home? Not enough in one area?

Sensors

Sensors are extremely convenient and economical. When considering sensory light fixtures, consider the following:

Screw-in photoelectric sensors: When installed in a lamp, these sensors turn on at dusk and off at dawn. Using an indoor/outdoor model allows illumination along a walkway or driveway all evening.

Plug-in photo sensor: You can plug a lamp into this type of sensor for all-night lighting indoors.

Motion senor wall switch: These switching give the convenience of being inside. Place one just inside the entrance to the garage or at the top of the stairs and the light will turn on as one approaches. The light will remain on as long as someone is in the room or manually turns on the light.

It’s Time for Timers

There are plenty of options of timer at your local hardware store, but to give you a few ideas of the models you might find, here are a couple of examples:

First, the standard plug-in timer. Typically this type only offers one or two settings. However, it is an inexpensive option and easily programmed.

The second, is the heavy-duty timer. If you want more options including hooking other electronic equipment to it such as the radio or tv, this is the model.