What do you want to know? Long ago I worked for a company (Matot Elevator) that made home elevators. Will say most are surprised that the unit itself is rather affordable. The Union install and annual certification is where things get crazy.... Nice home add on for the Right home. We sold Thousands. Go with hydraulic if you can. Traction and drum drive are long term pain in the butt.

Well That house does look fitting for an Elevator! For a residential (2-4 people) I would strongly suggest Waupaca Elevator. They make a reliable and proven product at what I would consider a fair price. Plus they have a great hydraulic in house drive system. As for as "easy to maintain", honestly other then surface cleaning you really can't do much maintenance on the unit. These are certified for safety and require a service contract to do any and all maintenance. Don't expect to be changing hydraulic fluid yourself to save money lol.

https://www.waupacaelevatorwi.com/?keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0YD4BRD2ARIsAHwmKVlp6LOPzmR32ZniQsKqFTEBXLZzZYmVuqmNuOdwMPBD-6jpNSngN80aAr3HEALw_wcB

I rarely work on home units, mostly high rise high speed traction stuff but I agree with Yelobird a small hydraulic system is the way to go.
Don't go cheap. I work for Otis. Use a union company
You want it done right.

Hey Elevator man...my dad did it up and down too. He worked for Dover. He worked the Houston area all through the 70’s/80’s. It was interesting growing up as a kid with him. He worked construction so driving around Houston was always a history lesson about all the buildings. What year they were constructed, how many elevators, etc. Wild times in the construction business back then. People would not believe the some of stories I could tell of how work got done back then.

My uncle also worked elevators and put one in his beach house....more for him to move stuff in. He rents it but keeps it locked. Guests do not get to use it.

There are homes with elevators. I went with a good friend to look at a Galaga. House was a mansion. Several other games but they were not interested in selling them. One was an Adams pin. Dad told the kid to sell the games He didn’t want and he could keep the money. Glad they had an elevator. Would have been a pain to move it down the big spiral staircase. I always wondered about the maintenance and cert of operation expenses so following to see the cost/options available.

We have a Thyssenkrupp chain-drive LEV II elevator. I don't think they sell in the US anymore but it's been very reliable and service is readily available at a reasonable cost. Believe it's about $700 a year for quarterly service, and thankfully it hasn't required any repairs since we bought the condo several years ago. It's very fast and pretty quiet (two things I'd recommend you consider) but imagine a hydraulic unit would be better like has been recommended. Phone service is relatively low cost but still a rip off since you need a dedicated land line.

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yes use a union company, Im an adjuster for Schindler and have seen some atrocities when taking over NONunion lifts. homelifts are dangerous as hell when installed with no inspections, in FLA you dont even need our CC license to install in a home. ive seen door circuits and pillow switches jumped out. most elevator deaths are from homelifts.

I'm in the middle class but I feel like a poor person when I look at pinside.

Always amazing when home owners jump out the interlocks and then wonder Why they rip off the folding door lol. That’s when service repair hits you!

*sees images, immediately thinks to self “F*** I got to get out of the Northeast”*

PS - beautiful house!

Try being poor like me. Bad enough when I see these amazing game rooms or the car threads. Now there's a elevator thread to really hammer it home. Ha

We have had an elevator for 11+ years. Goes to all 3 floors, and was great when I had my knee replacement.

Sorry you're not cool unless you get one of these

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Hahah I know how you feel I picked up a pin once at a guys house where his basement was a recreation of his childhood town. When you walked in it was literally a cobblestone city street that had shops/attractions. One room was an exact recreation of the Cavern club where the Beatles used to play, one room was a full theater that was a recreation of the Egyptian theater. It had a arcade with an antique shooting alley and had a wax museum that was dedicated to classic horror characters..I told him my interest in classic universal monsters so he took me to elevator and we ended up in a hobby room with sculpted bust of all sorts of horror characters and it had stained glass portraits in the windows of all of the classic universal monsters. Hands down the most beautiful and unique house I have ever been in. I left that place and I was like well..I’m poor.

Some how I am not surprised.

There are lots of people with money in this hobby and in my experience the more money they have the cheaper they are when it comes to this hobby. Look at Kaneda. He has brand new Demon and Civic Type-R yet he complains about a $600 topper. He likely spends that much going out to dinner one night in NY.

Be sure it has enough capacity to move your pins.

Video of the house....

https://www.wral.com/pub-soda-fountain-toy-store-charlotte-home-has-bronx-village-in-the-basement/18079784/

My friend has a 5 story mansion and an elevator . I go visit him about once a year and the guest rooms just happen to be on the top floor.. but no .. every single time the damn elevator is out of order .. what kind of mansion is this !?

Oh crap yeah that’s it...the owner was a super cool guy

Those are the kind of homes that get hit by the Wet Bandits during Christmas.

They all do. The norm is 1,000 lbs. Sadly the US norm for people is closing in on Pin weight territory.....lol

Doesn’t seem too well thought out. A big investment like yours should of covered something like 21 steps. Might be why the previous owners sold it.

Get a hip replacement, will be cheaper in the long run

I have actually been thinking about replacing a spiral staircase in my home with a Severia octagonal Vuelift. Does anyone here have any experience with this company?

This brings up a good question...how do people get pins up a beautiful staircase like that without destroying the hard woods/carpet? I know about stair climbing devices but what about when you need to be “creative”?

Welcome Rai! Sweet Place!

Ive heard good things about this Company.

https://www.vacuumelevators.com/florida-home-elevators/

Pneumatic!

Reach out when the world settles...or catch you at the lounge, parties....

Art

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An Escalera my friend. No damage what-so-ever!

In a forum full of first world problems, this one probably takes the cake. Figuring out cost and maintenance for an elevator in a McMansion.

Personally, I think any house with stairs is an atrocity. Single story ranch is the only way to go. All these problems and costs go away.

We had an Otis Gen2 installed a few years ago when we renovated our house -

It was recommended by the architect and has proven to be very reliable.

"Beam me up, Scotty"

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You know that cardboard box a new machine comes in? You cut that guy in half and it makes a nice sled to slide it down stairs, ideally slowly.

And how would you go up

That there is one of the best units made by Otis!
I wish I had about 200 of those units on my route...

That’s good to know. It’s one of the best built and engineered devices in my home.

Probably cheaper to hire someone to carry you up the stairs.

My man cave is in the basement of my ranch style house. When my knees get to killing me I can barely make it up and down the steps.

I have thought about a elevator in the future, but all I really need is to install a shower in the basement, and I would almost never have to go upstairs anyway.

Yes, it would be.