To ensure safety and visibility, municipalities usually mandate lighting around deck areas such as steps and landings, says Patrick Harders, a landscape lighting designer and co-owner of Sterling Lighting, an outdoor lighting maker in Danville, Va. But avoid wall-mounted security floodlights. “You don’t need that ‘prison breakout’ look to make things safe,” Harders says.
Instead, choose softer lighting for a warm, inviting feel. Place uplights at the bottom of deck posts and staple strings of LEDs under railings, says Teris Pantazes, co-founder of Settle Rite Home Services, a home-staging company based in Baltimore. You can illuminate steps the same way. Each activity area—seating, grilling, eating—should get its own lighting as well. Just be sure to check the UL, ETL, or IP rating of all your lighting to confirm that it has been tested and approved for outdoor and wet environments.
Some last pieces of advice: Keep in mind that town or other municipal codes might be more stringent—but often are more lax—than what we discuss here, Dream Home Consultants’ Barker says. And if you’re uncomfortable assessing your deck yourself, consider having a qualified deck inspector do it; it typically costs $200 to $250, Barker says.
Decks that are 10 years old or more should be inspected at least every five years. If you live within a mile or two of the ocean, increase that to every year to ensure that the salt water hasn’t corroded your deck’s fasteners.
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