Ceiling Corners, Light Fixtures, And Everything Above Eye Level

It has to come first

This is the one ordering rule that matters. Dust from ceilings, fans, and the tops of cabinets falls, and it lands on every surface below, so doing it after the floors means doing the floors again.

In a normal cleaning session that means high dusting, then surfaces, then floors, in that order, with no exceptions. It is also why high dusting fits naturally at the start of a deep clean rather than as its own separate afternoon.

The list, top down

• Ceiling corners and the edges where the ceiling meets the wall, where cobwebs form.
• The tops of door frames, window frames, and any picture frames.
• Light fixtures, including the top of the shade and the inside of a bowl fitting.
• Ceiling fan blades, top and bottom, which hold a felt of dust on the upper side.
• The tops of cabinets, the fridge, and any wardrobe, which in a kitchen carry a greasy dust rather than a dry one.
• Vent covers and the wall directly around them.
• The top edge of curtain rails and blind headrails.

Dry first, damp second

Take dust off dry, with a microfibre head on an extension pole or a clean dry cloth. A damp cloth on a dusty ceiling corner makes a grey smear on paint that is much harder to remove than the cobweb was.

The exception is the greasy dust on top of kitchen cabinets and above the fridge. That one needs warm water with dish soap, because it is not dust in the ordinary sense, it is dust bound into cooking grease and no dry method touches it.

Light fixtures and fans, without breaking anything

Turn the fitting off at the switch and let a bulb that has been on cool down before touching anything. Glass shades that unscrew or unclip by hand can come down and be washed in the sink, dried completely, and put back. If a fitting needs tools or feels stiff, leave it and wipe it in place.

For a ceiling fan, an old pillowcase slipped over each blade and pulled back along it traps the dust instead of dropping it on the room. It sounds like a trick and it is the one method that genuinely works better than wiping.

Where to stop

• Anything reachable with a short step ladder with both feet on a step is yours.
• Standing on a chair, a counter, or the arm of a sofa is not, and this is the most common way an ordinary cleaning task turns into an injury.
• Fixtures in a stairwell, over a stairwell, or in a double-height space belong to the building.
• Anything requiring the fitting to be dismantled or the power isolated is an electrician's job.
• Exterior windows above the ground floor are a specialist service rather than a cleaning one.

In a rental, a light fitting damaged during cleaning is a charge, and a fixture that is out of reach is not your responsibility to reach. Both point the same way.

How often it is worth doing

Two to four times a year covers most apartments, plus a pass before any inspection, since corners and fixtures are visible from the doorway in a way that low dust is not.

It is also worth doing at move-out. The tops of door frames and light fittings are on many inspection lists precisely because they show whether the clean was thorough or just visible.

High dusting is part of the scope in deep apartment cleaning and in move-out apartment cleaning, where it runs first for the same reason it should at home. The cleaning checklist lists which visits include it.