Working Height in Foyers and Vaulted Ceilings

Working Height in Foyers and Vaulted Ceilings

A two-story foyer looks like a ladder job from the floor. It is really a geometry problem: the wall is 19 feet up, the chandelier hangs in the middle of the room, and the floor you have to stand the ladder on is marble, tile or finished hardwood about six feet from the wall.

Measure the Real Height First

Two-story foyers in DFW homes commonly run 18 to 22 feet to the ceiling, and vaulted great rooms hit 16 to 20 feet at the ridge with lower side walls. Measure to the point you need to touch, not to the ceiling plane.

The four-to-one rule is what catches people indoors. A ladder that reaches 20 feet has to stand about five feet out from the wall, which puts the feet in the middle of the entry floor and the top against a wall that may be drywall over a tall stud cavity.

Extension Ladders Indoors

A 24 foot extension handles most single-story vaults and a 28 foot reaches the high side of a two-story foyer. Our Werner 7120-2 fiberglass extension ladder at $424 is the 28 foot ladder that fits a foyer without going to a 32.

Protect both ends. Our AC19-2 ladder covers at $15.99 keep paint and drywall from taking the abrasion, and a moving blanket under the feet saves the floor. Fiberglass is also the safer choice near a chandelier circuit that may not be fully de-energized.

Two people raise an extension ladder indoors. A 28 foot ladder swinging up in a two-story entry has a lot of arc and not much room for error around the fixture.

Jacks and Stages Between Two Ladders

For ceiling work that runs across a room, a pair of aluminum ladder jacks at $180 with a stage between two extension ladders gives a stable standing platform along the whole span. That is how high walls get painted, beams get stained and ceiling fans get hung.

Our 12 inch wide 250 lb stage at $373 and the 500 lb rated version at $396 are the sizes that work between interior ladders. Wider and longer boards in the stages range cover two-story great rooms.

Set both ladders on the same plane before hanging a stage. Interior floors that look flat often fall a quarter inch across a room, and a stage that sits level while one ladder leans is a stage that slides.

Towers for Chandeliers and High Fans

A chandelier change in a two-story foyer is a tower job on anything but the smallest fixture. A rolling steel scaffold tower at $699 can be rolled into the entry, locked and climbed with both hands free, which is what hanging a 60 pound fixture requires.

Where a tower will not fit, a Baker-Perry unit at $229 plus a second deck gets to about ten feet, and the ladder handles the rest. Stacking a Baker unit is a two-person job with guard rails, not an improvised move.

Loads, Helpers and Finished Floors

The load on an interior ladder is the worker plus a fixture or a paint bucket, and the floor is usually something that scratches. Put down protection before the ladder goes up, and keep the tool bag on the floor instead of hooked to the top cap.

Have a second person on the floor for anything above ten feet, not to hold the ladder but to hand up tools, take the fixture and call for help. Interior work at height is quiet work until it is not.

Interior Height Without the Drama

Foyers and vaulted rooms are the jobs where crews improvise the most, because the height is real but the floor is finished and the fixture is expensive. One extension ladder, one stage set and one tower cover almost every interior at-height job in a home.

Send us the ceiling height and a photo of the floor under it and we will set the ladder and stage list.

Everything ships from 5030 Dexham Rd. Ste. 103 in Rowlett, TX, and local crews can pick up the same day. Call 972-331-1090 and we will tell you what is on the floor right now.