Lifts & prep for them?

[Alan Ambrose]

Anyone have a lift? Thoughts? Pros & Cons? Suppliers?

 

We have a couple of designs in planning and I am sweating the design detail. I would like to at least prep for a lift so that we have the opportunity to install one when we get (even more) decrepit. Without actually selecting a model at this stage, I wonder if it's possible to design for (a) the footprint, and (b) for any pit required? e.g. I'm seeing pit depths from 10-30cm atm.

[Mr Punter]

I have a small goods lift as I am in a four storey house with the kitchen at the top.  No pit required.  Lifts take up a surprising amount of space.  Cheap ones are really slow.  You will need an expensive maintenance contract.

 

I think it is silly designing with a potential future lift in mind.  Better to move to a bungalow or flat.

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, Alan Ambrose said:

I wonder if it's possible to design for (a) the footprint, and (b) for any pit required? e.g. I'm seeing pit depths from 10-30cm atm.

They are simple things, basically a motor that turns a vertical threaded rod that the box sits in.

(An electric drill holding a threaded rod with a nut on it, and a crate stuck to the nut.)

Some don't even have an enclosure and you can touch the the wall as you ascend.

 

If you speak to a local lift specialist (rather than from a glossy magazine) they can advise on the options re size, speed , pit etc.

Also bear in mind what power is required.

 

Then you can decide whether to form an area that is easy to remove for  a pit, with a duct or cable into it. and a matching box-out in the ceiling.

 

I've persuaded a building inspector that we didn't require a lift in a public building because the intended use did not require it. We agreed to frame the ceiling in the appropriate position to make future addition easy, and that was basically forming an opening as if for  a stair, and infilling.

So I agree that it is sensible to  plan for this, as the cost now is very small, and the savings and convenience benefits if you did it would be large.

 

 

[Alan Ambrose]

OK following up with this. Here's a few ballparks on costs:

 

https://www.lifton.co.uk/domestic-lifts-prices-how-much-do-home-lifts-in-the-uk-cost/

 

https://www.onlylifts.com/blog/how-much-does-a-home-lift-cost-in-the-uk-domestic-lift-elevator/

 

https://gartec.com/blog/how-much-does-a-lift-cost-uk/

 

Typically, the 'home' version of these uses a frame and no pit or a small pit of, say, 200mm, electric traction rather than hydraulic (rack and pinion, ball screw, chain drive etc) and runs at 0.15m/s i.e about 18s to travel one floor. By comparison, the slow-ish lift in the building I'm in atm covers one floor in 5-6s. I'm guessing that the slow speed is a regulation somewhere. Oh yeah, the 'machinery directive' and also Part M.

 

Cost is say £20K average for wheelchair size although a slightly fancy 1.5m circular glass lift comes in at say, £65K. Those are 2-stop / 1-floor lifts, so a bit more for more floors.

 

So, I'm considering a circular floor cutout of, say, 1.6+m and a pit of, say, 200mm.

 

By comparison, a spiral staircase of those dimensions is about £3K.

Edited April 3 by Alan Ambrose

[Mr Punter]

Most commonly you would just trim out the floor joists and infill, plus provide electric to the location.  Installing and maintaining a lift is expensive.  If you are wheelchair bound it would be very dangerous to be upstairs alone when the lift fails.

[ProDave]

Makes a stair lift look good value.

 

At a cost of £20K I would be tempted to DIY something, purely for my own use, it would have no approvals of course.

[BotusBuild]

Used ones on eBay, or

 

 

[markc]

Definitely don’t need a pit and power requirements are generally under 10amp so a nearby socket is ideal. Never fitted one but I have taken two out and had to cut the mast because the hole had been trimmed at min opening size so there wasn’t enough wiggle room to get it back out on the angle. For a standing lift, trim at 800 (less 2x half joist width) and 1000 in length the give you space to get the mast in. 

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> Most commonly you would just trim out the floor joists and infill

 

I probably should have said - this is for the cutout in the ground floor slab and down to the basement, also RC of course (for the pit). So can't be done so easily afterwards.