Home Elevators Aren’t Luxury Items Anymore

When you think of an elevator inside a private residence, you probably imagine some mansion owned by a celebrity, installed just because they didn’t want to carry heavy items up and down their stairs. However, this is becoming less of a case.

Times change when it comes to technology. Remember when the HD TV seemed like a luxury item? Or the cell phone? As time goes on, certain items become more affordable to the general public and less of an item that is only accessible by the rich and famous.

Examples of Luxury Converting to Essentials

To give you a more detailed example, in 1955, a small black and white TV could cost you around $100, which doesn’t seem like a lot until you remember inflation. Adjusted for inflation, you’re paying over $900 for a TV that had a fraction of uses as a modern TV has. Nowadays, you can get a giant 4K with $900.

Then there’s the dishwasher. In the 1970s, a dishwasher could cost you around $1,500 when you adjust for inflation. Nowadays, you can get a good one for a fraction of that price. These are including in any basic apartment building, and many people can’t leave without it.

Let’s look at the microwave. It’s a staple of any home, poor or rich. You can buy a cheap microwave for around $30, and it gets the job done. In the 1950s, the first commercial microwave was in the market. How much did it cost? Adjusted for inflation, you could be paying as much as $20,000 for one. Imagine paying the price of a car just so you can reheat some leftovers! Find out how much a residential elevator cost now a days.

Finally, we have the home computer. The Commodore 64 could cost you around $1,500 in today’s money. The 64 in the title is how much RAM it had, which was 64 KB. Nowadays, you need at least 4GB of RAM just to run Windows 10 well.

The Future is now

The point is, technology marches on. We’ll soon see 3D printing and alternative fueled cars for less and less too. Same with home elevators, which have more than just a use of convenience. Home elevators are seen as useful tool for the disabled.

About 50 million Americans are living with some kind of disability. Those who find stairs physically taxing, and live in a home that has stairs, can benefit from an elevator installed in their homes. Even if the person does not have a physical disability, there are other disabilities that a home elevator can help. For example, if someone is prone to fainting or seizures, the last thing they want is to have an episode while walking on some stairs, where they can tumble down or cause serious injury.

Then there’s the elderly. Even if an elderly person is physically fit for their age, one fall down the stairs can put them out for a while. A home elevator is safe for all those situations. Not only that, these elevators can be installed with a phone line or an emergency button in case someone needs assistance.

The prices of home elevators will vary. It’ll depend on your home, how many floors you have, the size of the elevator and the type, and the list goes on. But for only one stop, and for a cheaper model, you can get one installed for an average of $10,000. For many, this is the price of a used car, and can be paid off in time.

Plus, home elevators have other benefits. They’re tax deductible if you’re using it for medical expenses. If you’re planning on reselling your home, they can add value to your house and you can probably get most of the money you spent on the elevator back.

And the price of one just keeps going down. We’re not fortunetellers, so we can’t tell you what the home of the future will bring us. But we can make a safe bet that in the future, home elevators will be more common than you think, being used by the disabled. Even those who just want one for convenience won’t have to be rich to install one.

Are Home Residential Elevators Safe?

Having a residential elevator in your home may sound daunting. Since many people are used to seeing elevators in apartment buildings and commercial spaces, they may be concerned about the safety of having it in their own home without an employee managing it. However, when home elevators are properly maintained and installed, yes, they are very safe.

As years have gone by, home elevator technology has advanced to greatly improve the safety of home elevators. Here are just a few factors that keep your residential elevator sage.

Adherence to National Safety Code

Beyond just the functions and technological advancements, there’s a national safety code that all elevators must adhere to in order to be installed. So when you’re getting a residential elevator, you’re getting one that’s coming with the full weight of regulations to ensure it keeps you and your family safe.

REI Controllers

Elevators have come a long way since the days where you needed someone designated to operating the lift. With a Residential Elevators Inc. (REI) controller, you’re able to get real-time diagnostics on how your elevator is running. These devices are smart enough to detect problems and solve them before you even notice them becoming an issue. Plus with functions like auto-lights and auto-homing, your elevator will keep running efficiently no problem.

Infrared Protection

The doors of an elevator can be intimidating to some. However these days, they’re getting better and better at doing their job while keeping you out of harm. With infrared protection, your elevator can detect anything that’s in its path and will prevent itself from closing until the space is open. It’s a function many are used to seeing in elevators, but even more advanced to make those quick judgment calls should someone last second try to hop in or out of the door.

Back-Up Battery

Getting trapped in an elevator is a fear for many people, but it doesn’t have to be a concern with your residential elevator. With a back-up battery, you won’t get stuck inside even if there’s a power outage. Residential elevators also come with a manual lowering device should your power and battery not be functioning as well as a telephone.

Residential elevators are much safer than they may sound to skeptics. Feeling more confident about installing one in your home? Reach out to Celtic Elevators today and we’ll help you find the right model and get you ready to install.

 

The Benefits of Building a Multi-Story Home

When you’re building your home, you have a number of crucial decisions to make. How many rooms? What material will you use? How are you going to install the plumbing and electrical systems? But perhaps one of the largest and most notable questions you’ll have to ask yourself is how many stories you want your house to be. A multi-story home may seem like a lot, especially if you’re trying to live a minimalist lifestyle, but adding stories to your house is a smart long-term investment. Let’s examine how.

Cost Effective to Build and Live In

For many, the instinct may be to build a single-story home in order to save money. However, that’s not actually the case. As Bensonwood points out, two story homes and taller average out to be less money per square foot. The reason being that the largest costs in building a home often are excavation. For the same square footage that a single-story home would have in relation to a multi-story home, your excavation costs will go up drastically. Building up instead of out is a much better way to get bang for your buck. Not just that, but they’re more energy efficient to live in as well. With a larger surface area to heat, a single-story home is going to cost more to heat.

Better Functionality For Your Family

In The House Shop Plan’s “Building Up Versus Building Out,” they breakdown one of the most prescient factors for adding more stories to your home. In short, it comes down to functionality. Trying to manage your home and family in one story comes with its own sets of problems. Being able to designate simple ideas like bedrooms being upstairs and your living space being down stairs is a luxury only known to multi-story homes.

Having a second story gives you more possibilities to design your life the way you want. You’re not constrained to a single layout that you have you to move across. It leaves room for you to rearrange and create a better living experience. Not to mention, you’re likely going to get a better view with a taller home as well.

Overcoming Obstacles with a Home Elevator

One of the things that makes single-story homes so appealing, especially to baby-boomers, is ease of mobility. Without stairs to deal with, you might think that you’re saving yourself to energy and issues that come with another story. However, a single-story home actually will mean more walking distance across your home so if you have a family member that has issues getting around, a single-story won’t necessarily resolve that.

By installing a home elevator, you can minimize the effort and problems of building up. With the costs you’re saving by building a second story, an elevator isn’t totally out of scope. Celtic Elevator can help install a home elevator that will ease the burden of getting around your house while also adding to the value of your home.

 

Think you’re ready to make the leap to a second story and add a home elevator? Reach out to us today and we’ll help find the right option for you.