There are plenty of things we don’t think about until they stop working. We usually take them for granted and only think about our front porch light when it quits working.
Make sure your front porch is well lit with a high-quality porch light. It’ll make you feel safer at night and keep you from tripping over the stairs before your door.
We are happy to say that we have researched this topic extensively. We can tell you definitively that the ideal size for front porch lights is.
The typical front porch light is about 7 inches wide, but it can be a little bigger or smaller. This is for a door that is 6 to 7 feet tall. For doors that are 8 feet tall or more, the average porch light should be about 11 inches wide (give or take an inch).
Here, we answer a lot of other questions about porch lights to help you make the best choice for your home.
How do I know what to look for when choosing an outdoor light for my house?
To make sure you pick the right light fixture, you need to think about a few things. First, you need to think about how much light comes through any windows near your front door.
If the light coming in from the windows is bright, you will want to add fixtures that don’t get in the way of that light.
It’s important to look at the layout of your front porch before you choose the best lights for it.
Also, think about the size of your door and the light fixture. Most of the time, your light fixture should be about 1/4 to 1/3 of the height of your door.
Take a look at the colors on your front porch and choose a light fixture color that goes well with the colors on your porch.
It is important to think about these things when choosing a front door: the color of the house exterior, any molding around it, and the curtain colors that can be seen from inside your home when you look outside.
Finally, make sure you buy a light fixture that fits in with the style of your home. Don’t spend a lot of money on fancy light fixtures if your house and the front porch look simple.
Similarly, if the rest of your home is full of more expensive things, don’t buy porch lights that look out of place and cheap. People will see these lights when they first see your home.
Where Should I Place a Front Porch Light?
Porch lights should be about five-and-a-half feet high. A foot or so away from the molding or trim around your front door, they should be.
- So long as there is room for lights on the sides of your door.
If your porch is very small and you can’t fit lights next to it, you can think about other ways to light it up. When it’s necessary or if you want, you can also put lights in the ceiling of your porch. Ensure they are balanced with the ceiling.
As a result, you’ll also want to make sure they don’t hang too low. Ideally, the lights should be at least 7 feet above the ground, but this can vary depending on how your front porch is set up.
Do you need a different kind of light bulb outside of the house?
Yes. Lightbulbs that are meant to be used indoors and lightbulbs that are meant to be used outside are very different. There are a lot of things to think about when you’re dealing with nature.
For one thing, it rains a lot. It is important to have lightbulbs that can stand up to rain. There are a lot of normal, indoor bulbs that can’t stand up to rain or wind.
Temperature is another thing to think about. The weather outside will change a lot over the course of the year. It will go from freezing to over 100 degrees outside. Making sure your lightbulb works at both ends is very important.
Fortunately, you don’t have to check all of these things when you buy a lightbulb. Most stores sell both indoor and outdoor light bulbs. It doesn’t matter what kind of lightbulb you use, as long as you make sure it’s an outdoor one.
When it comes to outdoor lights that can be used inside, most of them can. Not all indoor lights can be used outside, but most of them can. Incandescent bulbs can be used both outside and inside, so they are good for both.
Most people use them. Because they are easy to find and last for up to 2,000 hours, they aren’t always the best bulbs.
If you want bright, white lights, LED bulbs are also good. They can be used outside in any weather.
How bright should the lights outside be?
The brightness of a light is measured in lumens, and this is how bright it is. This is the standard way to measure how bright something is.
As LED lights become more popular, lumens will be the measurement we talk about because that is how LEDs give off brightness. Wattage is another measurement we will talk about.
LEDs use a lot less power than watts, so they are the more energy-efficient choice. If you want to use a porch light, you should get a bulb that has about 400 lumens. If these are too bright for your taste, you can always get lights with 200 lumens or less. Learn more, lumens and watts explained.
Outside, there are other types of outdoor lights as well. Among them are lights that flood the water, light up walls, and light up gardens.
Floodlights usually have more than 700 lumens. In the water, the lights have about 300 lumens each. Wall lights and garden lights are much less bright. They range from 50 to 300 watts, with wall lights on the dimmer side.
Check out the Luxrite A21 LED Bulb if you want a great, all-around bulb.
Lumens to Watts Comparison Table
These common light sources are shown in this table. It shows how much power they use, and how bright they are. People make different kinds of lights, so the average values aren’t always the same.
| Lumens | Light bulb | Halogen lamp | Energy-saving lamp | LED |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 230 – 270 lm | 25 watts | 19 watts | 6 watts | 2 – 3 watts |
| 430 – 450 lm | 40 watts | 35 watts | 9 watts | 4 – 6 watts |
| 730 – 800 lm | 60 watts | 50 watts | 13 watts | 7 – 9 watts |
| 970 – 1100 lm | 75 watts | 64 watts | 19 watts | 8 – 11 watts |
| 1380 – 1600 lm | 100 watts | 84 watts | 23 watts | 12 – 14 watts |
| 1500 – 1800 lm | 120 watts | 98 watts | 32 watts | 15 – 17 watts |
| 2000 – 2500 lm | 150 watts | 122 watts | 40 watts | 18 – 23 watts |
What is the best wattage for outside lights?
Wattage is another way to measure how much power bulbs use. With lumens, you can be pretty close to the truth if you take a zero off of the lumen number.
There are LED bulbs that have 700 lumens and there are normal bulbs that have 70 watts. So, based on the approximations in lumens above, just take off a zero and that will be the wattage that comes from that.
The wattage of a front porch light should be around 40 watts.
What Color Should Outdoor Lights Be?
LED lights can be almost any color. So, that being said, there are parts of your yard that look better in certain light colors. Lights that shine on architecture or the outside of the house should be warmer in color. A front porch light would be included in this.
In general, warmer lights tend to have a yellow or golden glow.
For lighting that includes anything to do with nature or plants, cooler lights are better. A lot of the time, lights that are cooler look whiter.
Underwater lights give you a little more freedom when it comes to color. It’s a lot of fun to put multicolored lights in your pool so that it changes color. These lights could also be put in your fountain or other places that look like that.
It’s up to you what colors you use at the end of the day, so you can be unique. Is it something you’d like? If so, it’s likely a winner. These are just some general rules about how to light things. They aren’t very unusual.
Make sure to look at these Philips Hue bulbs if you want to buy color-changing bulbs for your home.
Can You Leave Your Porch Light on The Whole Night?
Not at all. Keep your porch light on all night. This tells burglars that you’re not home. In most cases, criminals may see it as an open invitation to break into your home if you leave it on all night.
They will know that you left it on intentionally. Nobody will think that way, but there is a better way to let people know you’re home.
If you are afraid that criminals will break into your home or mess around in your yard, floodlights with motion sensors are the best way to protect your home. Floodlights are often used all over a house.
Lights go on when they are turned on. When you’re out at night, this gives you a sense of safety and makes you more visible.
Lights with motion sensors turn on when they sense movement. During the night, when a criminal is around, the floodlights will turn on. They will stay on for a set amount of time or until they don’t sense any more activity.
Having motion sensor flood lights makes it look like anyone who is outside your house has been spotted, which will most likely stop them from doing anything illegal.
In Conclusion
Front porch lights are an important part of owning a home because they are both decorative functional and safe.
If you have the right lights and fixtures in the right places, you’ll be able to see your doorknob at night, keep burglars away from your home, and make your house look more like home.
Most Common FAQs Answered
Should you keep your front porch light on?
Most people believe that the front porch light should be on. This is because burglars do not want to be seen and they would rather break into a house with a dark porch. But this is also a myth.
The porch light can attract bugs, which might bother you or your guests. The light can also attract unwanted attention from the neighbors or other people passing by, which can lead to some awkward situations if you are entertaining guests for example.
How tall should a porch light be?
This section will answer the question of how tall should a porch light be. With the help of an engineer, this article will provide information on how to calculate the height of a porch light.
How many lumens should a front porch light be?
Lighting is always important for safety, but it is also important to have enough light so that the front porch does not seem dark and unwelcoming.
The best way to determine how many lumens a front porch light should be is by considering the size of the space that needs to be lit, what will be used in the space, and how much natural light is already there.
What is a good front porch light?
The front porch light is an important part of the exterior of your home. It can be used to deter criminals or to show that you are home. Here are some tips on what type of front porch light would be best for your home.
- LED lights are energy efficient and last a long time. They also give off a bright light that can be seen from far away, which makes them perfect for deterring criminals.
- Halogen lights are bright but they don't last as long as LED lights do, so they may need to be replaced more often than LED lights do.
- Fluorescent bulbs last much longer than either halogen or LED lights but they produce much less light and may not even be visible from far away at night.
