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We are designing our home with the garage on a lower level and part of the house and porch over the garage. I want to put in an elevator between the garage and the porch. While I’m capable of climbing stairs, I don’t relish the thought of hauling luggage, grocery bags, etc. up and down; and who knows, someday I may need a walker. Has anyone put in a small home elevator? Any info would be appreciated.
I have been in private homes in Costa Rica with elevators but they are few and far between
If you Google – How much to install an elevator in a home? – You will find lots of information. They are certainly not cheap…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comAn alternative you might consider is a “stair climber”. I think that’s the right term. It’s a chair that attaches to a rail that is mounted to the wall on one side of the stairs. The rail has a chain driven trolly that moves the chair up and down the stairs. It’s operated electrically.
These things require a straight run of stairs with no intermediate landing. At the time of construction, when the device isn’t yet needed, all you have to do is pre-wire for the thing’s electrical requirements and be certain that the wall is structurally strong enough to support it. If it’s never needed, you haven’t invested much. And if it is needed, installation is easy.
And, best of all, these things are much less expensive than an elevator.
When we were designing our home in North Carolina, I addressed the elevator issue. If I recall correctly, an installed residential elevator would have cost about $25,000. By comparison, these stair climbers were around $4,000.
And a residential elevator requires a shaft about four feet by four feet. The stair climber requires only that the stairs be wide enough for it to pass.
There are also devices that install to the outside of a house, like from the ground to the top of a deck railing, and which are designed to lift packages but not people. Seems like you’d have to protect it from all our rain.
Might it not be simpler to design the house all on one level?
Edited on Aug 20, 2007 14:04
Thanks for the info. Yes, it would be smart to build on one level, however the lot is at the top of a hill which has been leveled. The leveled area is not quite as large as what our house will need. We could put the house at an angle, but that would block a lot of our view. If we come in off the road behind the house to a garage, our driveway will be a lot more level and a lot shorter. If we make the leveled area of the lot larger, we will be lower and lose much of our view. Do you know anything about dumb waiters? We could probably load our stuff on that, and maybe ourselves one at a time? Will look into the stair climber.
Actually, you could probably get an engineer here to design a dumbwaiter/future person lifter based upon an electric chainfall. For the uninitiated, a chainfall is a “block and tackle”-type device that’s used to lift heavy objects such as car engines. The Costa Rican building code may not even address residential elevators, and since there’s no on-site inspection during or after construction, who’d know?
One drawback to all this elevator talk is that you’ll have to devote space to it, and there will be some mechanism space needed above it. I wonder how that’ll affect your architectural design.
Actually, not much space is required for a household elevator. If it is only going to one floor above the first, a hydraulic cylinder and cable mechanism can all be installed at the bottom and requires nothing above.
I haven’t researched the availability of these units in CR, but they are not hard to install nor do they require a lot of structural engineering. There are even models that are intended for outdoor use from the driveway to the deck (in the snow!)
Contact the American suppliers and you might find someone here who does sales and installs.Possibly the term elevator is what is causing the confusion. Search for wheelchair lifts or platform lifts. These are not enclosed elevator boxes, but open platforms designed to lift people with their chairs. Some of them are rated at 750lbs or more. That should be adequate for most household stuff?
Alberto
Edited on Aug 21, 2007 14:36
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