I’m cleaning too many of these things. You know, the foyer lights that do not have a “door access.” I can barely get my arm in there to clean them.
Does anyone disassemble these, or is there a better way?
I cleaned 32 of those 18 feet up about 3 months ago… They were not cleaned for atleast 20 years im told. I just used the door and it sucked.
I tried to take one apart one time and I’ll never make that mistake again. It took 1 1/2hrd to put it together again. I just take the bulbs out first and then use a micro w/ DI and Iso to buff clean.
BTW–what are most of you charging for this type of fixture? My rate is about $40/each. I am in the ballpark?
Bert you are n the ballpark of what we charge. We have tons of those around here and we do them just by opening the door and working around the interior as best as possible.
I can’t get any with doors
With no door on the side how do they change the top set of bulbs?
Exactly!!! That’s why I wondered about disassembling them. Some are bigger than this picture I showed. I’m 6’5" and can juuuuuust get my arm to the top inside, but my enormous biceps makes that very difficult. hehe…
I like the idea of taking the bulbs out. That gives me a little more room to work with.
We use spray bottle, blue towel, and a paint stick. Put the blue towel on the paint stick it’s easier to reach the hard areas and the paint sticks is flexible for the curve in the glass.
Hey Marc! Good to see you are still around. 
Odd that type of unit would not have an access door on them. I can’t say I have ran into that and we do lots of them. I asked the fine folks down at Annapolis Lighting about it and they tell me that the whole interior assembly will unscrew and come out but it is a delicate process that they would not recommend doing without bringing the unit down from the ceiling. (Hmmm)
I guess if I encountered one without an access door I would just do as Chris stated; work within it as best you can with a microfiber rag. And we charge in the neighborhood of $30-$50 for a unit like this depending on how high and how dirty.
With no door I’d charge $60 minimum for the extra hassle.
I’ve used a goblet or decanter brush in the past for hard to reach lights. I think it was Ed K. that put me onto that idea on another forum. The towel on a paint stick is a pretty good idea, too.
Taking the bulbs out is always a good idea, so you can touch those up too.
Use that, gives a nice shine to the glass, and the foam gives you a lot of cling on vertical surfaces, so no scrubbing needed. Just lay a fabric canvas under the area that you’re working so you don’t have to worry about the liquids getting to the floor, and then use several microfiber towels to remove the excess moisture and do some buffing.
I do charge not much for them since I’m there already and have developed my own system, so it doesn’t take me a lot of time, some of them I start at $25 and up, but with NO door to clean them I’ll tell them $65 and up depending on size. I’ve thought about taking it apart but don’t recommend it, is unsafe and dangerous, specially if you’re on your own, one mistake and you’re paying for a new one.
I do take apart exterior light fixtures when I can since they’re REALLY dirty and I can do a huge mess outside without worrying the customer about water on the floors.
I’m going to try that…
I do a lot of those lights and its hard for me as a woman to get my hands up in there, so I can imagine how tough it is for you guys. I charge $30-40 depending how large and how tough to access
You can also put your towel on a squeegee channel to reach up inside.
Is the only way to access these foyer lights via a large a-frame ladder? ie, can they be moved?
I think I know the answer to my question already, but would it be considered “safe” to pull foyer lights to a landing and work on them there? What I’m picturing is smaller than the light in the picture in this thread.
I have a lawyers office that I do janitorial work for. Every month I clean their foyer light (the office looks like a nice, historical home). I always get on the ladder, but the Office Manager told me that the last cleaning company used to pull it in to the upstairs loft and clean it from the landing. But that doesn’t seem safe to me - I’m worried I’ll loosen the fixture.
thanks,
Brian
If the fixture isn’t designed to be moved for cleaning you’re better off cleaning it in place.
