An elevator is a 4×4’ or 5’x5’ shaft, 30 feet tall, covered in drywall, with a train track like metal bar on one side of the track. This space turned out a much easier job, than expected.
The men that install an elevator, are all pros, so this goes smoothly too.
There is no room for errors or shortcuts in an elevator.
The subs were tall and strong, and always absolutely competent intelligent and experienced… WIN!. You have to be strong and smart moving iron rails, and motors.
What makes it economical is, you do one, you’ve done 1000… The company trains their own men, the pay is great, and the demand for elevators is huge…think taller, better houses, older boomers, the disabled, the lazy…(just joking… It is not at all a thing of laziness!!!!)
The elevator is a more humane way to get furniture upstairs, to get the Costco Scott towels upstairs, to carry endless boxes of papers, books, laundry, clothes, shopping…
Without an elevator, the stairs become a place to leave stuff on the way up or down… collection zones.. of junk.
A surprising bonus is that an elevator isolates heat and cooling (and cooking smells) from the 2nd floor… making zoned heating and cooling possible.
And then there are the falls, that never happen…what is this worth!
Cost…
It costs about $25-$30K plus the cost of framing and drywalling the elevator shaft. Construction wise, this is just a tall, small square room…. not a $25K cost item…it is nothing challenging for the contractor, builder of designer.
OUR EXPERIENCE.
We went from planning on a dumb waiter to move boxes and books etc.. , and evolved it up to an elevator, after touring other people’s houses with the elevator salesman.
Our house has a garage in the basement, then a 10-foot walk up, to main floor then another 10 foot walk to the top floor….34 steps from top to bottom.
We can buy great “brown furniture” at estate sales, unload it from the car, slide it onto the elevator, rise up, then slide it off on the top floor…. solid furniture that weighed 200lbs, we could move easily ourselves… by sliding, not by lifting.
If in doubt, think how much easier it will be to sell the house.
Some buyers click this as a requirement.
Those in wheelchairs also require it….
It just makes a more orderly life. Also…. the money it cost, does come back on resale …..and makes all buyers take a second look…
It only makes sense to do this when building new or adding on a significant addition… then it is only an incrementally small cost of $$ and workmen.
The biggest surprise is that it is one of the last things to get inspected, and legal, so the poor workmen had to hand carry all the wood and tile and cement up the stairs without the benefit of using the elevator.
If you think an elevator is expensive…
Think how much it costs to sell your house, buy another.
And move…when you are physically least able…
besides…
It will help resell your house later on.
Size & Shape….
Think of your furniture and future furniture..
If the elevator is 4-foot square, you will only be able to buy a dresser 4 feet wide…
Consider on oblong shape, a 4×5; or 4×6′ so you can move larger furniture up to the top floor… oblong shape of an elevator makes such good sense, instead a square elevator!
The height will be a good 10 foot tall, that is not the issue…but the depth is.
