I'm taking Billy's advice and experimenting on my own home. I just ordered the nightliting mini-wallwasher (2) without stems. I don't have gutters, so I figure I'll just mount directly to the shingles. Any recommendations on the right way to do this? Common sense--drill holes, use brass screws and some sealant for the holes?
The fixture comes with a mounting bracket which allows piveting up and down. This will help with the pitch of the roof. But I can kick myself now for ordering the shiny brass instead of a black fixture for concealment.
Any mounting tips on this kind of application would be appreciated. No, I don't have a digital camera, yet. Quit my day job and I am broke.
For anyone interested in my progress:
I was planning on building up lighting jobs gradually as I finished this year of teaching, and building up some cash-flow lawn accounts, but I'm suddenly on personal health leave and probably will not return. So I'm doing the full-time business sooner than later. Bad for lawns when the grass is now going dormant, good for lighting.
Bad for venture capital. I am hitting the streets and visiting developers, ARB's, stuff like that. Lots of networking. Plan to do some mailings but on credit card if necessary. I have one lighting job lined up and one in the works, both referred by a landscaper.
My wife is being supportive and is out getting full-time work bartending to help pay our bills.
So, here's my model for the present: Cast and Kichler primarily, soldering connections, and making in-lines with ace connectors. This was a tough descision, I like Paul's method with the Buchanon crimp, I might switch to that some day, but solder sells easy and goes well with tincoat.
Architectural review boards are everywhere around here, and they are all interested in longevity of materials, not to menton basic design principles that most irrigation guys around here have yet to learn for lighting. Also, warm, wet, salty air is throughout the region, so I'm gonna market the Cast tin-coat wire, too, to help me stand out from the other guys, even on the basics. I was surprised at the cost, less from FOLD than what the local distrib's want for regular copper.
For what it's worth, I'm staying away from wells as much as possible, and I hate MR 11 bulbs, most of the specialty lights, and I'm going to avoid controllers other than astronomical switches as much as possible.
Well, my last purchase (whether this was wise or not, I'm not sure) was a new truck last month and I already ordered lettering. I'll just have to stop drinking the good beer.
Thank you to everyone who helped me get to this point.
Mike