Light troubles

[celticdragonfly]

I posted this to LJGenie, but I'll crosspost it here too.

I have a light fixture in my foyer that is the bane of my life. It hangs up very high, higher than we can reach from our stepladder. All three bulbs were dead when we moved in, and it took a LONG time to get them replaced, and a very scary trip up on an inconvenient rented extension ladder. Now all three bulbs are dead again. I can't use one of the extendable light-changing pole things - they work if the lightbulb points down. That fixture has the lightbulbs pointing up.

I'm thinking that maybe we should look into replacing the fixture entirely. The cost and hassle of having it done might be worth it if we can end up with something that doesn't cause this sort of problem every time. IF I can find something that will work better. I'd really like one that could crank down somehow like a candle chandelier does to be changed. Does such a thing exist? Failing that, if I got one with the bulbs pointed down, do those extendable light-changing pole things work on a chandelier that's swinging on a chain, not fixed in one place? Or does anyone have any other suggestions?

Comments

[tmc4242.livejournal.com]

You have in-house engineering support. No problem. ;-)

Possible solution: Rewire the fixture with a long enough chain and cable that if fully extended it will hang within easy reach. Fit a ring in the middle of the chain ( or other appropriate point ) which when hooked over a hook on the mount will cause the fixture to hang where it needs to be. Fashion an attachment for a tree saw to use to unhook and lower the fixture. Use the same thing to raise it back.

Possible downside -- extra loop of chain / cable hanging in place. Another ring maybe ?

Another fine shot-from-the-hip engineering solution from the twisted people in my head... ;-)

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

You have in-house engineering support.

I do???

You mean selenite? He's learning handyman stuff as fast as he can - but he was in aerospace, not electrical engineering. And it's ME that is always the one up on top of the ladder.

Rewiring the fixture is the big hard part.

[tmc4242.livejournal.com]

"You mean selenite?"

Why yes. He IS a rocket scien...I mean Engineer. ;-)

"And it's ME that is always the one up on top of the ladder."

So what you're saying is that among all the other nifty stuff they taught selenite at M.I.T. was the ability to delegate ? :-)

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Bah. No, it means that I'm the one with balance and a better dex score.

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

Replacing the fixture with one that at least hangs within reach of YOUR stepladder is definitely worth looking-into.

And if the level of illumination in the foyer is not crucial, put in some of those curly fluorescent bulbs that don't REALLY give as much light as they claim to, but which last WAAAY longer than incandescents. I had a couple of fixtures in our old place that, while not as spectacularly inaccessible as yours, were still bitches to get into to change bulbs and that's what I resorted to.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that I've seen hanging lights that were hung on retractable wires so that they could be pulled down then put back up as needed.