Beyond the roofline
What zones can permanent lighting cover? Roofline is where it starts, not where it ends
Permanent lighting covers nine zones on a typical property: eaves and roofline, soffits, columns, fascia, landscape, pool and patio, dock, fence line, and signage or facade. Each zone is addressed on its own, so the roofline can be warm white while the pool deck runs blue.
What a zone is
A zone is a run of pixels the controller treats as a unit. It has its own place in the app, its own color, its own schedule if you want one. The roofline is usually zone one because it is what the street sees. Everything after that is about how you use the property when you are home.
Because every pixel is individually addressable, zones are a design choice, not a hardware limit. We split runs where it makes sense for how you live: front elevation separate from the back, patio separate from the pool, dock separate from the house. The Erie colonial in our project tracking had 312 feet of roofline across six zones for exactly that reason.
The nine zones we light
These are the areas we install permanent lighting on across Western PA and the surrounding states. Not every property gets all nine, and most start with two or three. Details for each are on thraxel.com/permanent/.
- Eaves and roofline: the primary run, the one the neighbors see
- Soffits: downward wash under deep overhangs, common on modern and craftsman homes
- Columns: porch and portico columns, lit top to bottom or accented at the top
- Fascia: the trim board itself, on homes where the roof edge is the feature
- Landscape: beds, trees and the front walk, tied into the same system
- Pool and patio: deck edges, pergolas and outdoor kitchens
- Dock: marine-rated color on river and lake docks
- Fence line: property boundary, driveway edge, backyard perimeter
- Signage and facade: business fronts, plaza storefronts, entrance monuments
Front-of-house zones
Roofline, soffits, columns and fascia are the curb-appeal group. On a brick colonial in Murrysville the roofline alone does the job. On a farmhouse with a deep front porch, columns and soffits carry the look, because the porch roof hides most of the main roofline from the street.
This group is where HOA rules apply most, and it is where the color-matched track matters. By day the zones are invisible. At night they run Everyday Warm on a normal evening and a holiday scene when the calendar says so.
Back-of-house zones
Pool and patio, fence line and landscape are the living zones. Nobody on the street sees them. You do, from the kitchen window and the firepit chair. A fence line in warm white makes a backyard feel finished after dark. A pool deck in a soft blue on a July night is the thing guests photograph.
These zones tend to get used the most hours per year, which is why we set them up with their own schedules. The patio can come on at dusk and the roofline can stay off until a game or a holiday. Landscape fixtures from our thraxel.com/landscape/ service run on astronomical timers that shift with sunset through the year, and we design the two to complement each other.
Water and commercial zones
Docks are their own category because of the environment. Spray, ice, salt and constant humidity. Our pixels are IP67 marine-grade silicone, salt-tested, which is why a dock on the Allegheny, Lake Arthur or a Conneaut Lake cottage gets the same system as the roofline. We cover it in depth at thraxel.com/blog/dock-and-waterfront-lighting/.
Signage and facade is the commercial zone: restaurant fronts, hotel entrances, plaza storefronts, HOA entrance monuments, car dealership showrooms. Same pixels, same track, scaled up, and the scenes get tied to the business calendar instead of the family one.
How to choose your zones
Start with what the street sees and what you look at most. For most homes that is the front roofline plus one living zone, a patio or a fence line. Zones can be added later, and we design the first install with that in mind. The render mock-up you receive within 48 hours of the free consult shows each zone lit so you can pick.
Most homes, even multi-zone ones, install in one to two days. Financing at 0% APR for up to 24 months is available to qualifying buyers if you want to do the whole property at once. Request the consult at thraxel.com/quote/ or text Tyson, who quotes every job himself, at 724-859-4390.
