Hi, I’m looking for a gutter light for the upper portion of my home which remains in the shadows due to a lower roof. I would like a soft light that would not overpower the lights already installed to uplight the house. What’s a good suggestion? Photo attached
Blair: I would think the Volt Wide Splash R7S flood light would work well for your second story lighting. I used a Gentle Splash to light one of my dormers and, like the Wide Splash, it has a low, narrow profile which is barely visible from the street, at night or during the day. What I don’t know is whether or not the beam angle of a single Wide Splash is sufficient to cover the entire width of your second story. It would depend on how far the gutter is from the face of the dormer. You can always add a second Wide Splash if one isn’t sufficient and adjust the luminosities by rotating the bulbs. Something else to consider is whether or not a gutter mounted Wide Splash is far enough away to not cause a large shadow on the narrow dormer slit on the upper left. If it does, you can easily add a separate, small spotlight to the lower left corner of the upper gutter. I used All Star Minis to light my gables. The lights are barely visible from the street, but are limited to 38 and 60 degree MR11 bulbs if purchased from Volt. There may be enough reflection from the soffit to adequately light the narrow dormer with the 38 degree bulb. If not, narrower beam MR11 bulbs are available online, but are nearly twice as expensive as the Volt bulbs. An alternative would be a larger MR16 light with a 15 degree bulb, which, if mounted as far to the left as possible in the upper gutter, might not be that noticeable. Don’t be afraid to experiment. I spent part of 2 weeks going up and down a ladder testing 4 different options to light the area around my garage doors. My neighbors thought I was nuts but part of the fun was testing the different options to finally got the look I wanted.
