Grill Gazebo Lighting

jfm0830

While my Kitchen Renovation project was underway I undertook my own little pet project: Adding some lighting for my Grill Gazebo. I ended up doing all of the work myself because I wanted to control how it looked. I didn't want the electrical feeds to take away from the clean lines of the existing grill gazebo. I was going to use rigid metal conduit, but the compound bends in multiple directions all at once were beyond my pay grade with a conduit bender, What I used instead was called Liquidtight conduit. It was essentially flexible metal conduit sheathing with some sort of plastic coating. It was quick to run and fairly easy to bend. For the light fixture I chose two barn type lights with a glass bulb cover and a metal cage. One of the colors was just about an exact match for BGE green, The lights arrived yesterday and I got them up and running today. I'm posting some progress shots from when I was running the conduit and pulling the wire plus some finished shots when I fired up the lights.

shtgunal3

Can I move in?

cazzy

Wow, you've been busy Jim! Great work sir!

dogfoot

Nice done right

Kosko

Nice work Jfm! Looks good and everything is water tight. I love your light fixtures!

jfm0830

Thanks everyone for looking and commenting.

@shtgunal3 your comment reminded me of something my wife said about it. She it was like a big doghouse she could send me out to, except the problem is it wouldn't be punishment.

@Kosko (and anyone else who likes the light fixtures) they are made by a company called Barn Light Electric in Titusville Florida. They sell a wide variety of classic designs. The fixtures are made in the USA, hand spun with a porcelain enamel finish, using processes that date back to the 30's. Great craftsmanship, great customer service and reasonably priced for what you get. These lights will outlast me.

Jim

jfm0830

These lights look great in the daytime, but more important is how they look at night. I am happy to say great! I am adding some pictures I shot after dark. I originally didn't think I'd get any night time shots for a few days, due to rain. I didn't want to be outside in the rain with my camera on a tripod doing long exposures while I held an umbrella over it. 

But the rain stopped and held off long enough to get some shots in. I am happy to say the lights worked out great!! The fixtures are rated for 200W each and I chose to use a clear 150W bulb for two reasons. The clear gives it a bit of that old timey look in keeping with the look of the fixtures and you get a lot of light out of the clear. I get more light to work with than I do on a cloudy day and it occurred to me these would bring more light to a cloudy day too. Unlike using gill lights everything is evenly lit, some of which I think comes from the light bouncing down off the underside of the roof. 

SmokinDAWG82

WOW, Great job Jim, Nice and bright. Now you just need a mini fridge and a recliner and you are set!

henapple

Great job...

Plano_JJ

Those look great Jim. How did you end up getting power to them? I am wanting to add lighting like that to my gazebo but I am trying to figure out the best way to get power out there without having to bust holes in the house and do a lot of digging. Also, who is the mfr of those lights? Thanks.

MrCookingNurse

Looking great! I have dreams of a gazebo/pergola in my back yard. Prolly gonna be a long time away tho!

Yours looks supper nice

dlk7

Great work - really looks nice.

SmokeyPitt

Plano_JJ said:

... Also, who is the mfr of those lights? Thanks.

Pay attention!! Just kidding...

jfm0830 said:

...(and anyone else who likes the light fixtures) they are made by a company called Barn Light Electric in Titusville Florida. They sell a wide variety of classic designs. The fixtures are made in the USA, hand spun with a porcelain enamel finish, using processes that date back to the 30's. Great craftsmanship, great customer service and reasonably priced for what you get. These lights will outlast me.

Jim

SmokeyPitt

Jim- the lights and your entire outdoor egging shangri-la looks great! 

CajunEggHead

Looks great but the boring bees we have here in Louisiana will have a good time on that untreated wood, They will have holes in it everywhere.....

jfm0830

Thanks guys, I can't wait to use this and the new Kitchen, should be Saturday.

CajunEggHead said:

Looks great but the boring bees we have here in Louisiana will have a good time on that untreated wood, They will have holes in it everywhere.....

Wow even pressure treated wood? The grill gazebo was made entirely out of a good grade of pressure treated lumber. I wouldn't think any bug would eat that stuff.

Plano JJ my solution is a temporary one. I had power run out to that general area under my concrete terrace several years ago. When I dug up the work box I found the cable had been cut somewhere under the terrace when a section got remove and replaced for my new bulkhead. Arrrggghhhh!!!

With this and the new Kitchen, there wasn't any money left for new underground electrical. Maybe in the Fall. Meanwhile I bought a short heavy gauge extension cord and I cut off the male end (behave guys) and attached it to the bottom of the switch box. You can see it in the 4th & 5th photos. When I need lighting I'll run an extension about 15 feet from the exterior GFCI outlet near my bulkhead, to the post with the switch box. Poor man's temporary solution, not gonna be permanent.

Plano_JJ said:

...How did you end up getting power to them? I am wanting to add lighting like that to my gazebo but I am trying to figure out the best way to get power out there without having to bust holes in the house and do a lot of digging.... Thanks.

jeroldharter

I have a similar gazebo and put some rope lighting in there. It works well for ambient lighting. Great job to do all that yourself. That is a nice space.