Hey Evan, I recently installed some puck lights under my soffits thanks to your advice and they look awesome. I'm now toying with the idea of doing some additional lighting for one small and one large gable as well as a dormer since I already have the wiring ready. I plan on mounting them to the gutter. I was curious what your thoughts were on what fixture and bulbs to use or even if it would look ok. Would a spotlight with different bulb angles work or would I need a flood light? I attached some pics for reference. Thanks for your help!
Hey Jarrod, Awesome! Would love to see some photos of the puck lights. They may require a bit more labor to install, but the concealed downlighting adds such a refined look IMO. For the gables & dormers, I think you're on the right track considering gutter mounts. Spotlights are typically the most ideal fixture to use given you can adjust/focus the illumination more precisely compared to floodlights. I attached some project photos for examples on the common mounting positions you'd see used. For most dormers, its a straight-on approach with a single spot light. You typically want more of the illumination focused on the dormer itself - slightly grazing the roof is somewhat natural. Gables are more tricky than dormers, the best approach for up lighting is typically balanced illumination from either side. Fixture wise, I'd recommend considering compact spotlights for both applications (for any gutter mounted applications really) - they are typically less noticeable and offer subtle illumination on the 2nd story. Either our All-Star™ Mini Brass Spotlight (Bronze) or the Spark Mini Brass Spotlight (Bronze) For the MR11 bulb option, I'd probably recommend a 2W with 38-degree spread.
Thanks Evan. I'll try to get some photos of the puck lights posted tomorrow. I have just a couple of follow up questions. I would prefer to go with the spark mini spotlight as it is the smaller of the two but I noticed the only option was the 2W 38 degree MR8 bulb. Would this be enough power to illuminate the dormer? And so I understand correctly, are you saying I would need two spotlights for each gable or just the larger one? Since the smaller one is only about 5 ft wide at the base could I get away with just one spotlight straight-on? Thanks again for your help!
The 2W MR8 has an output of 175 lumens - personally, I prefer lower levels of light outputs for the subtle look so IMO I'd think (2) would be enough to illuminate the larger gable if it were on my home. Positioning is key here - I really wouldn't mount any further out then the garage lanterns, possibly even the edges of the garage door. Fine-tuning the knuckles of the fixtures at nighttime to make sure the light was properly dispersed up the gable would also be important. For the smaller gable, you could very well use the single spotlight approach. Largely preferential if you wanted to keep the design on the gables similar and how much illumination you're looking for.
