A high ceiling in your home can add style, space and possibly a higher resale value. Although rooms with high ceilings are designed to wow home buyers – homeowners quickly learn that the routine cleaning, maintenance and painting of these hard-to-reach places can require scaffolding, money and headaches. Here are some helpful hints to keep your high-up amenities beautiful and resale-ready.
Cleaning
Keeping your high ceiling clean is the best way to stay ahead. A telescoping cleaning pole (available at Home Depot) with an Acme thread on the end will quickly become your new best friend. Depending on the height of your ceiling, you can find cleaning poles that reach heights from 5-15 feet. Some in the professional series reach as high as 30 feet.
For dusting and cobweb removal, be sure to get a lamb’s wool or synthetic duster and a wall brush. And for high ceiling fans, you will need a forked dusting tool to thoroughly clean both sides of the fan blade in one, quick pass.
Maintenance
Next, visit your local home center or hardware store for a pole-mounted light bulb changer. These tools rely on either a suction cup or spring-steel fingers attached at the end. But be cautious around chandeliers – these tools will cause the chandelier to spin once attached to the bulb. To avoid this, employ some help. A second person, equipped with a second pole, should hold the chandelier in place while you loosen the bulb. If the buddy system isn’t an option, you will need to find a tall stepladder, designed to maneuver into hard-to-reach corners.
Painting
Painting high ceilings is not a fun chore. Simply put. But it can be done with the right tools. First, be sure to thoroughly dust the areas where you’ll be applying paint. Then, the easiest (and best) way to paint high ceilings and walls – without the use of scaffolding – is to get an extra set of hands and an extension ladder. Position the ladder so you can reach the point where the ceiling and wall corner meet, then use a brush or mini roller to cut the line; do this all the way around the area you’re painting. To finish up, just grab an extension pole to reach the high parts of the wall.
Sure, maintenance of high ceilings is a tall task. But there’s no question that high ceilings can equal high reward in reselling your Chicago home. Just follow these quick tips and keep your ceilings resale ready.
