Two-story great room maintenance

My husband and I just bought our first home in Southern Walk. It has a two-story great room, which recently brought on a discussion about what to do when the recessed lighting burns out or even if the lighting on the large ceiling fan that hangs from the center of the room (still quite high and heavy) should die. Has anyone had to deal with this yet? If so, how did you do this? I appreciate your help!

 

A basic idea for the recessed light is to use a special tele-scoping pole. Take a look at this sample: http://www.amazon.com/Changing-Telescopic-Bulb-Gripping-Attachments-UNGBCK03/dp/B0006VZAGW

I am sure there are others that would be longer, you just need to see with your ladder or steps, how high you think you need to reach. And similarly, there are dusting feathers that do the same for those cob webs that will appear in the corners.

There is also similar poles for regular lights for the ceiling fan. Hope that helps.

As I looked at that product page too I noticed that there was one that was motorized! It does the twisting for you... nice, and it come with attachments for many different bulbs.

 

We also have the 2 Story living room - here is a link to Front Gate Manor - we purchased the combo tele cleaning set just for this room (upper level windows, cobwebs, dust bunnies etc) & installed dimmers on the recessed lights, in almost 4 years we have yet to change the bulbs in that room.

http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?item=30287&maincatcode=null&subcatcode=null&itemID=11791&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C137%2C142&iProductID=11791

As for the ceiling fan - we ended up installing a higher end brand - Regency w/ a lifetime warranty. http://www.regencyfan.com/

Our electrician had to install temp. scaffolding & ran power via the attic... I will say that after installing the fan - the temp in the summer/winter is far more regulated and we have yet to change the up light in the fan.

 

Yeah, and don't forget some kinds of blinds or window treatments to cut down on the huge heating bill you'll have heating all that empty but pleasant space!

 

Definitely try to block some of the light if you have furniture you don't want to fade! I found out the hard way.

 

Our strategy is we don't turn the lights on very often in our 2 story foyer and above our fireplace in the 2 story family room. Been in the house six years and it's work thus far .

 

We have a two story as well and with a lighted ceiling fan I find myself using a 22' extension ladder about 1 - 2 times a year to go up to change light bulbs or to remove balloons from the ceiling fan. Not a big deal, just time consuming. I installed that ceiling fan over 7 years ago and that was tough on a ladder using one hand...

 

That's my answer too. We use lamps in the family room and have yet to install a ceiling fan even though we paid to have it prewired. We only have two recessed lights in the family room, but we rarely use them. Our foyer has a fixture which we also rarely turn on. It has a side "door" so the bulbs can be changed, but, the bright contractors who installed it did so with the door towards the stairs, duh, it's harder to access that way since we can't get a ladder to it.