West Texas Landscape Lighting

Wind and dust are the everyday tests out here. Blowing grit scours finishes and coats lenses, gusts work loose fixtures in soft beds, and big temperature swings between day and night stress seals. Caliche, the cemented layer common under West Texas soil, can make digging slow and trenching difficult, so wire routes need planning before the first shovel goes in.

Then there is the sky. Big Bend National Park is an International Dark Sky Park, and counties around the McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis have outdoor lighting rules to protect its view of the stars. Even far from those places, many West Texans simply want to keep seeing the Milky Way from the back porch. Dark-sky practice is part of every design we do here.

• Fully shielded fixtures aimed down or tightly onto their targets, never into the sky
• Warm color, 2700K and below, with amber-toned options near observatories
• Heavy-wall brass and copper fixtures with glass lenses that resist sand scouring
• Stakes and mounts set deep or anchored to stay put in strong wind
• Wire routes planned around caliche, with conduit where trenching is shallow
• Heavy-gauge cable, multiple home runs and multi-tap transformers for long distances
• Timers and motion controls so light runs only when it is useful