How To Remove Landscape Lighting?

Landscape lighting is often used to add lights and enhance the external beauty of the house. If you are getting bored with your existing landscape lighting setup and want to upgrade it to install 12V Landscape Lighting, you will first need to remove the existing landscape lighting.

Making a proper plan to remove landscape lighting, will help you to uninstall all the lighting components safely and allow the reuse of material and proper disposal of waste. Furthermore, it’s important to maintain the beauty of the yard without any damage.

How To Analyze The Landscape Lighting Before Removal?

Before removing landscape lighting, it’s necessary to assess the yard/garden where it is installed. It will help you to plan the removal process effectively and ensure safety.

In this step, you must identify the type of landscape lighting; solar or low-voltage.

It’s easier to remove the solar-powered landscape lighting. Most of the light fixtures have built-in solar panels and require no wiring. So you can easily remove them by simply lifting the fixtures from the ground. Otherwise, you will need to locate the path of wiring from the solar panel to each of the lighting fixtures.

For low-voltage landscape lighting, you need to identify the key components;  transformers, lighting fixtures, and wiring.

Locate the transformer and carefully identify the path of the wiring. In landscape lighting, most of the wires are buried. If you have a rough sketch of the installation of landscape lighting, you can easily locate the path of underground wiring. Otherwise, you can use the Utility Locator which is specially designed to find the underground wires without any digging.

Tools And Materials Needed To Remove Landscape Lighting

For a successful and safe removal project, you’ll need the proper tools. Here is the list of tools that will be required.

• Screw Driver
• Wire Cutter
• Voltage Tester
• Trowel
• Pliers 
• Gloves

Guide To Remove Low-Voltage Landscape Lighting

Here is a step-by-step guide on the DIY project to remove the landscape lighting. Following these instructions, you can remove the low-voltage landscape lighting more efficiently without damaging the yard.

Turn Off Power

Turn off the power before starting work. For this, turn it off from the circuit breaker or disconnect from the transformer. You can find the transformer near the outdoor electrical outlet, and disconnect it from the outlet to stop the flow of electric current.

To ensure safety, use the voltage tester around to wire to make sure there is no current inside the wire. This will help to avoid electrical shocks.

Remove The Transformer

The transformer contains 2 wires, one connects it to the main power source and the second connects it with the landscape lights. You have to disconnect the wire that is connected to the lights.

Unscrew the wire connectors from the transformer and carefully remove the wires. Now, remove the transformer from the wall by losing the mounting screws.

Remove The Fixtures

To remove the fixtures from the ground, use a trowel to dig around the fixture. After that, gently pull the fixtures out from the soil.

If the fixtures are attached to the wall, use the screwdriver to remove the mounting screws and carefully remove the base of the fixtures.

Disconnect The Fixtures From the Wires

To disconnect the wires from fixtures, you can easily cut the wires with the help of wire cutters. In the future, you can easily reconnect the wires using connectors.

Remove The Wiring

Now, remove the whole landscape wiring. Trace the path of underground wires and mark it. Using a trowel, carefully dig the ground until you see the wires. Make sure you are not damaging the wires during the digging process. Once the wires appear, pull the whole cable out from the ground and make a bundle.

You can store this lighting cable for later use.

How To Restore The Landscape After Removal Of Wires?

After the removal of fixtures and the wires, cover the digging areas with the soil according to the level of the surrounding area.

You can plant trees or reseed the area with grass seed, to maintain the beauty of your yard. For this, choose the plants or seeds that match your entire garden.

Water them regularly to ensure a healthy garden.

If the walkways were damaged during the wire removal, you can repair them by adding the same type of stones or pavers to fill the gaps.

How To Dispose And Reuse Landscape Lighting Material?

If you don’t want to reuse your lighting materials or they are damaged or outdated, you should properly dispose of them to protect the environment. Lighting fixtures contain metal, plastic, and glass, that can be recycled. The lighting bulbs contain some harmful components like mercury, lead, and arsenic that should be discarded properly.  You can bring all the components to the collecting agencies or the recycling programs to make your surroundings safe.

OR

The lighting materials can be reused. You can use the same components to set up new landscape lighting or in other electrical projects. If the fixtures, transformer, and wires are in good condition, you can reuse them in new lighting projects. This will save you on cost.

If you are worried about the patches of electrical cable, while using you can easily splice low-voltage lighting according to the requirements.

Don’t try to work with line-voltage cables without consultant of any professional.

Conclusion

Removing the landscape is a safe and easier DIY project that can be done without the help of a professional.

Firstly you need a deep observation of your landscape to locate the lighting components and trace the path of wires. After that, you can easily remove each component by following clear instructions.

After the successful uninstallation, store the lighting materials for future use or dispose of them properly to reduce any pollution and health hazards.