Home elevators may not be very common, but you will be surprised at how many homeowners have chosen to have an elevator installed at their respective homes. Elevators or any forms of lifts are very helpful especially when one or some members of your family use a wheelchair. If you are interested in having an elevator installed in your homes in the San Francisco area, you can do so after planning for one.
Here are the steps on how to install elevators at home:
Choose the type of home elevator you want
Choosing the elevator that is best suited for your needs and home is the first step homeowners must do. It may sound easy enough but that is a very difficult step, and you would need a professional’s advice for this.
Calling a professional contractor or an architect to help you and give you advice is very necessary because they will be able to tell you which among these types of home elevators will best compliment the house and the amount of retrofitting needed to accommodate the lift of your choice. Some companies, like Nationwide Lifts, do have a resident professional that will help you and advise you what type of elevator is necessary for your home.
There are different types of home elevators that you can have installed in your homes. These are:
- Dumbwaiters – Dumbwaiter is a type of elevator that is mostly used for delivering food, dishes and other small items between floors of the house.
- Wheelchair lifts – Wheelchair lifts are also called platform lifts. As the name indicates, it is a platform that carries the wheelchair and the person occupying the wheelchair vertically from one floor of the home to another.
- Passenger elevators – Passenger elevator is an enclosed lift that people use to get from one floor of a house or a building to another floor level. Passenger lifts are further subdivided into different categories according to the type of their drive system. The different types of drive system offer various advantages and disadvantages. Here are the different kinds of passenger elevators:
- Cable winding Drum Elevators – This is a popular passenger elevator type because it is cost effective. However, it can be noisy, so it is not ideal to have this type of elevator next to a bedroom or any room that needs to be peaceful.
- Traction Elevators – This is another popular type of elevator for its cost-effectiveness. The lift works by sliding through the traction up and down. It is an ideal choice for installation for homes that would like less retrofitting since an engine room is not required. The only downside would probably be a little bit of noise that it makes when you are using it.
- Hydraulic Elevators – This type of passenger elevator requires a machine room for the controller and hydraulic tank, as well as a pit that is six inches deep in the base where you will place the elevator so that the bottom of the lift and the floor of the home will be on the same level when it opens. The benefit is that you will have a very smooth and quiet ride in this type of elevator.
- Pneumatic tube elevators – This type of passenger elevator is the most modern looking, and it also takes the least space amongst all kinds of elevator. Pneumatic tube elevators use air pressure to move the smaller tube inside the bigger outer tube vertically. The downside is that not all states allow this type of elevator for home use. So if you are interested in this type of elevator make sure to check if your city or state would allow you to.
After consulting with professional contractors and your architect with your choice, then you can proceed with the next step. If you’re looking for various types of home lifts visits https://www.
Let the professionals work
Elevator installation, whatever type of elevator you choose, is not a DIY-type of a job. It is better to let the professionals handle it, unless you, the homeowner, are an expert in installing an elevator. Contractors usually prepare the home for the retrofitting necessary to accommodate the elevator like preparing a hole for the shaft and other essential things.
The contractors and the company providing you with the elevator of your choice work hand in hand to make sure that the retrofitting done in your home is enough to fit the size of the elevator. If an extra room or space is necessary, they also make sure to provide it so that the installation process itself flows smoothly.
Get maintenance personnel
Maintenance of an elevator is as important as the installation. Yearly maintenance checkup is very crucial to make sure that the elevator works properly and no one in the house ever gets stuck in it. If for some reason one or more people get stuck in it, make sure that your maintenance company or person can get in your home fast.
Final Thoughts
Having an elevator in your home sounds very cool, but that is not all. It can also add value to your house. So if you think that a lift would be a necessary addition to your home, or you would like to have an elevator in the house you are planning to build, then go for it. If you have the extra cash then you might benefit in installing an elevator in your home.
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