I started on the lower level. I told myself it wouldn't take too long to do those. Thinking of doing the entire house on one day seemed to intimidating! My tools for the job were a folding chair (to stand on) and microfiber cloths (I did use more than the two pictured).
I started with the dinning room. All those bulbs had a layer of dust. I gently scrubbed those and every surface of the fixture. There was a small cobweb in there in addition to the dust. I think the dust from the ceiling made the cobweb more visible. Ick!
I moved around the lower level, dusting each fixture. All together, I dusted seven light fixtures and one ceiling fan. There were a couple I had done recently, but I dusted them again.
It's at this point, that I wish I had timed myself. It wasn't a super quick project, but not really too long either. I would guess just under an hour to do the lower level. It would easily be a project that could be done on a week night if nothing else was going on.
As I said before I intended to stop after finishing the lower level. I decided to take a break and then decide if I had the motivation and energy to move on to the upper level. Turns out I did! I started in my daughter's bathroom. The light fixture was pretty dusty. In fact, I found drywall dust on it! And I believe this house is just under five years old. I do recommend dusting fixtures first and then using a damp cloth if needed to get any residue off. If you wet the surface first the dust can stick and make a bigger mess.
And then I came to the issue of a bathroom ceiling fan. It was definitely in need of a cleaning. I could visibly tell there seemed to be a dead insect in there. Another ick!
I pulled the cover off to clean with water and a cloth in the sink. No major scrubbing needed. And I used a dry cloth to wipe the dust off the interior of the fan. I didn't get it perfect, but it's better.
That fan cleaning did slow my progress down some, but it was well worth the few minutes it took to get it cleaned up. I had two others in the upstairs that I checked, only one needed attention. And that one wasn't as bad. Yea!
Our upper level probably took a similar amount of time to complete. I had two fans to dust, three bathroom fixtures, three bathroom fans, and eight dome lights to wipe off. There were two fixtures in the girls rooms that I can't reach without a ladder, so I let those go. Most likely they won't get cleaned until the light bulb burns out. That's usually a good time to clean any light fixture if it needs it.
My normal routine for ceiling fans is to clean them in the late fall when they come to a stop for winter. By then, they really have a lot of dust (and cat hair) attached. And I do find it is best to dust them again before they are turned on again in the spring or summer. If you don't, then dust goes flying all over the room the first time they are turned back on!
Do you have a routine for dusting and cleaning your light fixtures?
Job well done! No I don't. We don't have ceiling fans here either. I'm going to clean my skirting boards this month - think you call them baseboards and also hopefully start shredding again.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard the term skirting boards, but sounds like those would be like baseboards. I will be doing those later in the month! And shredding is another great task to keep working on.
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