How Do Wall Lights Work?
Outdoor Wall Lights look simple on a drawing, but height is where most projects lose symmetry, comfort, and compliance. The goal is not a single magic number. It is choosing a mounting height that protects sightlines, reduces glare, and matches the building scale while staying consistent across elevations.
Define The Height You Are Measuring
Before you measure, lock the reference point so installers and inspectors read the same intent.
Mounting height: finished grade or finished floor to the centre of the light source or the centre of the backplate when the light source is not visible.
Finished grade: use the final paved surface, not soil that may change after landscaping.
Sloped sites: measure from the lowest adjacent finished grade to avoid lights ending up too low on one side.
This definition prevents the common mistake of measuring to the top of the fixture, which can shift results by 100 to 250 mm depending on luminaire size.
Recommended Height Ranges That Work In Most Exterior Zones
These ranges balance visibility and glare control for typical pedestrian approach angles. Many placement guides converge on centring wall lights around 60 to 65 inches above grade for door areas.
| Location | Typical Centre Height | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Front door, side door, patios with frequent foot traffic | 60–66 in, 152–168 cm | Keeps the beam above eye level to reduce direct glare while still lighting faces and hardware |
| Walkways along building walls | 66–72 in, 168–183 cm | Slightly higher helps throw light forward along the path and reduces hotspot reflections on glass |
| Garage side walls and service bays | 72–84 in, 183–213 cm | Higher mounting increases coverage for wider doors and vehicles without creating harsh shadows at bumper height |
Use the range, then fine tune using fixture photometrics, lumen output, and beam type.
Step By Step How To Measure And Mark The Height On Site
Mark finished grade at the wall with a laser level or a long level and chalk line.
Choose the centre height from the table above based on the zone function.
Account for door scale: if lights flank a door, centre height should visually align with the door’s mid upper third, not the header.
Set horizontal offset: keep the backplate close enough to the jamb to frame the opening without crowding trim, usually a small consistent gap across the façade.
Mock up at night if possible: glare issues show up immediately when you approach the entry from the driveway.
Check ADA And Protrusion Rules In Public Facing Areas
Where people pass close to the wall, depth matters as much as height. A common ADA related constraint used by lighting specifiers is keeping wall sconces within the protrusion limits, especially when mounted within typical reach and cane detection ranges. Some installer guidance summarises this as wall lights mounted between about 27 and 80 inches above the floor needing a maximum 4 inch projection. Treat this as a design trigger: if the fixture must be thicker, move it outside circulation paths or change the luminaire profile.
Reduce Glare And Light Trespass With Height Plus Optics
Height alone cannot fix spill light. Pair mounting height with optical choices:
Shielding and cut off: select optics that control uplight and high angle glare. The IES BUG framework is widely used to classify backlight, uplight, and glare behaviour.
Colour temperature: warmer CCT often looks more comfortable on façades and reduces perceived harshness on approach.
Beam shape: up down distributions typically tolerate slightly lower mounting than forward throw wall packs because the bright zone is not aimed at eye level.
Matching Fixture Size To Height For A Clean Elevation
If a fixture is too small, it forces installers to mount lower to “feel present,” which increases glare. If it is too large, it overwhelms trim lines. Use a proportional approach:
For doors, a widely used rule is sizing the fixture body around a fraction of the door height so it reads correctly at street distance.
For long façades, keep one centre height for a whole run and adjust only for genuine function changes, not for visual guesswork.
For modern architecture, a clean way to keep proportions consistent is to standardise on geometric bodies such as rectangular outdoor lights that scale well across different mounting heights.
Why KORS Helps You Get Height Right The First Time
When height decisions affect coordination, the manufacturer support matters as much as the fixture.
KORS focuses on outdoor lighting as a core category, with factory based production, structured quality control, and common project certifications such as CE, RoHS, and ETL, which helps streamline approvals and reduce rework. Beyond the catalogue, KORS can support specification details that directly impact placement success, including consistent backplate geometry across a family, durable outdoor housings, and project oriented configuration so the same mounting height still delivers the right visual brightness across zones.
Conclusion
Measure from finished grade to the centre point, select a height range based on the zone, and then validate with glare control and circulation constraints. When the elevation reads consistent and the approach feels comfortable at night, you have the correct height.
Share your wall elevations, door heights, and the intended lighting purpose for each area, and KORS can recommend a fixture format and mounting target that stays consistent from drawings to installation.
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