Cleaning Ceiling Light Fixtures

While most everyone will clean up things, including light fixtures, that are at or around eye level they also tend to forget about things that aren't at eye level. One example of this is the light fixtures found on the ceiling. Cleaning ceiling light fixtures isn't all that hard, though it will require you to be a little more thorough in your preparations.

1. Prepare the area. Since you will be cleaning dirt off of an area that is rather high, you need to protect what is below it. This means that you need to first move all the furniture out of the room so it will not get dirty. Second, you will need to lay down a drop cloth of some sort so that you can protect the flooring from any debris that falls. With the drop cloth in place, set up a stepladder or some kind of scaffolding so that you can reach the lights. You will also want to prepare a bucket of warm soapy water, and have a sponge or rag ready for you to do any scrubbing that you need to.
2. Turn off the lights. With everything in place you can begin cleaning the ceiling light fixtures. However, before you can do that you need to turn off the lights. The reason for this is that if you don't you can end up getting burned, or accidentally causing the light bulbs to explode if they come in contact with any type of fluid (such as the soapy water), so turn off the lights!
3. Dust the lights. Once you are ready to actually start on the lights, begin by first dusting them. Initially you will want to use a duster or some other similar tool so that you can get all the loose dust, dirt, cobwebs, and other items off of the light fixtures. Once you have removed as much of the loose dust as possible, repeat the process but with a clean rag. This will allow you to get most of the remaining encrusted dirt that you find.
4. Scrub the lights. Once you have dusted everything, you can begin scrubbing those particularly nasty light fixtures. Use a bucketful of warm soapy water, and a sponge, and clean off any and all dirt that remains. Replace the water in the bucket frequently since it will end up getting dirty rather quickly.
5. Allow everything to dry. As you finish each light fixture, allow it to dry while you move on to the next light fixture. Once you have hit all the light fixtures in the room, and allowed them all to dry, go back and inspect everything. Repeat the scrubbing process on anything that still looks dirty, and once again allow the light fixtures to dry before you do anything.
6. Clean up the tools. After you have ensured that you cleaned all the light fixtures, begin cleaning up all the tools and other items you used in the cleaning process.

There is at least one good thing to think about now that you have cleaned your ceiling light fixtures, you won't have to do it again for awhile. Since ceiling light fixtures aren't near many things that can cause them to get dirty, you really only need to do this once every two months.