Nationwide, residential elevators — ranging from small shaftless units that can be hidden almost anywhere to large and ornate lifts that are immediate attention-grabbers — are becoming much more popular and more common.
While there are a number of great reasons to install a residential elevator, perhaps the most important one is your family. If you live in a multi-generational household, your biggest consideration might be your family’s comfort level and overall wellbeing.
For many multi-generational families, residential elevators offer convenience, comfort and functionality that stairs or stair lifts simply can’t.
Convenience for your loved ones
No matter how old they are, your family will find an elevator in your home to be a huge convenience over climbing up and down stairs repeatedly. With a push of a button, a once arduous — and potentially dangerous — walk up the stairs transforms into a quick and easy ride.
And just think about the convenience of a home elevator for your four-legged members of the family, even if they can’t operate the lift! As dogs get older, it becomes harder and more painful for them to go up and down stairs, but hopping on an elevator with you will make it easier for your furry companions to keep up with you as they grow older.
Long-term security and comfort
With a residential elevator installed, you never have to worry about members of your family getting hurt on the stairs again, and it gives them the peace of mind they need to come and go around the house as they please.
It’s hard — if not impossible — to put a price tag on that kind of feeling of security and comfort in your home.
That’s a level of independence that makes it possible for our elderly parents and grandparents to be self-sufficient enough to stay in your home and not go to a senior living facility, keeping them comfortable in your home and with your family for years to come.
And with a regular maintenance contract for your home elevator, you don’t have to worry about damage from regular wear-and-tear on your unit.
Unparalleled functionality
We’ve covered how residential elevators can make your multi-generational family feel more at home and comfortable, but there’s another aspect to the equation: functionality.
Home elevators can be used for much more than taking yourself from floor to floor. Remember, they’re great for moving furniture, taking your guests’ luggage and just giving you a helping hand by lifting other heavy everyday objects. For older members of the family, taking this extra strain off their backs could be a total lifesaver.
When you’re thinking about installing a residential elevator, consider the normal questions — where will it fit, how will it fit with my design, etc. — but also consider the effect it can have on your family, especially if you live in a multi-generational household.
For those in the central Arizona area, Celtic Elevator is your one-stop for all your elevator needs, ranging from new installations to regular maintenance to elevator evaluations. Give them a call today for a free estimate on your new home elevator installation.
So you’ve decided to purchase and install a residential elevator. Congratulations!
Deciding to install a residential elevator is a big deal, one that will make your home feel much more luxurious, increase your property’s value and make it much more convenient to go to different levels of your home.
There’s only one problem: how do you decide where you’re going to put it? Choosing the right location is essential for getting the most out of your home elevator.
Here are some things to think about when you’re picking a place to install your elevator.
Choosing a Functional Location
The physical location of your residential elevator says a lot about its functional purpose.
For example, some people pick an elevator that looks very chic and sophisticated — like an all-glass cab design — and makes a stylish statement. In that case, they want their residential elevator to be front-and-center for visitors; they want it to be the very first thing people see when they walk in, and it’s meant to be used by visitors as well.
On the other hand, some people don’t intend for everyone to use their residential elevator, and it’s meant more for functionality. For example, personal elevators can be fitted into closets, giving people the privacy they want and still letting them go from level to level with relative ease.
Choosing a location is as much about function as aesthetics.
Size Really Does Matter
When it comes to picking the right location for your residential elevator, size really does matter.
You have to consider the size of the elevator cab and shaft you’re going to purchase as well as the physical size of the space where you want to install the unit. Remember that you have to consider the size of the elevator shaft as well as the cab when you’re thinking about where to place your lift.
Some elevators are small enough to tuck away neatly into a closet, but others will require more space. Consider the size of your family, how often you’ll use the elevator and what you’re going to use it for primarily.
Shaft-Less Options Available
If you’re tight on space and have an open layout in your house, you might consider going with a shaft-less elevator option. Shaft-less elevators are great for residential use because it doesn’t require a long elevator shaft — in fact, it can fit almost anywhere in your home!
When you ride it upstairs, you simply leave the elevator upstairs until you’re ready to come back down. In the meantime, the area where the elevator was is empty — leaving your space looking open and clean.
Choosing a place for your residential elevator isn’t an easy decision, but it will make a major difference for your home and the functionality you and your family will get out of the lift.
If you’ve decided to purchase and install a residential elevator and you live in the central Arizona area, Celtic Elevator is your premier residential elevator and installation company. Give them a call today to have all your questions answered about best practices for choosing a location for your residential elevator installation.
Walking into a corporate office building, you hear the familiar whooshing sound of big, bulky elevators lifting people at high speeds up to different levels of the building and bringing them back down, and their stainless steel automatic sliding doors and matching control panels.
In the corporate setting, commercial elevators have an established look and feel, but if you’re looking for a residential elevator for your home, your options are virtually endless!
When considering a residential elevator purchase, size is often the most important thing to keep in mind. The size you choose will depend heavily on where you would like to place your residential lift, what you plan on using the lift for and the size of your family.
For some people, their residential elevator is the centerpiece of the foyer, quickly and conveniently moving houseguests and their luggage up and down several flights. For others, their home elevator is tucked away in a closet space, making it easy for people to remain self-sufficient without drawing too much attention to the elevator.
Finding the Right Finish
Your new residential elevator’s finish will say a lot about your own personal tastes, and it’s an opportunity to connect your home elevator with your home’s unique aesthetic style.
If you’re interested in a traditional wooden cab, be sure that whenever you’re getting your free estimate from an elevator company, you verify that their elevators are made from real, solid wood — not particle board or veneer. Whether you choose maple, oak or cherry, real wood is beautiful and much more beautiful than particle board.
While flat brushed stainless steel handrails and light fixture options are common in commercial elevators, there are many other options available. You can choose from a range of finish options, shapes and materials.
For your handrail, choose either a flat or tubular shape and choose a wood or metal construction. For metal handrails, you have brushed, black, brushed bronze and antique bronze finishes to choose from. Your hall and car fixtures should match your handrails.
Typically, residential elevators are available in single and double openings, and elevator manufacturers make home elevators with a wide variety of door types, including accordion gates, sliding doors, glass walls and more.
Deciding on a Design
Chances are, most of the elevators you’ve taken a ride in have been big square boxes, and while that design works well for office and apartment buildings, considering a more aesthetically-pleasing design for your home can add an interesting and attractive addition to your home’s interior design.
Traditional box-shaped elevators are still very popular for residences, but if you’re interested in a more modern design, consider glass designs.
Square, octagonal and tube-shaped glass residential elevators are beautiful and allow for natural light to pass through them without making your space feel small, and they offer 360-degree views of your home as they ride up and down the levels of your home.
Ultimately, when it comes to choosing an elevator for your home, you have a lot of options for personalizing your residential lift and making it your own. When you work with an elevator company you trust, you can feel confident that your home elevator will be a reflection of you and your personal style.
For anyone in the central Arizona area who’s interested in personalizing a home elevator, contact Celtic Elevator! The experts at Celtic Elevator will walk you through the design process to ensure you get the best residential elevator for your home.
Elisha Otis is described as a ceaseless tinkerer. He created the first safe elevator. Otis grew up on a Vermont farm in 1811. However the young Elisha preferred hanging around the blacksmith forge to working on the farm. His passion for tools and tinkering with inventions led him to innovate everywhere he worked. Otis made several attempts at establishing a business. However, he was chronically sick, which led to continual financial troubles. In 1845 he moved to Albany, New York where he where he work at a bedstead factory. It was here that he invented a railway safety brake, which could be controlled by the engineer, and ingenious devices to run rails for four-poster beds and to improve the operation of turbine wheels. He helped his brother design a hoist system to transport materials two to three stories high. He built a machine that sped the production time by four times.
Hoist systems had existed since the time of ancient Romans. But none of them were safe. When Otis lived in Yonkers, New York, he worked converting sawmill into a factory. It was at this time that he needed to lift heavy building materials, and he designed the first safe elevator. His intention was to create a device that would prevent the elevator from falling if the rope broke. He made toothed wooden guide rails to fit into opposite sides of the elevator shaft, and fitted a spring to the top of the elevator, running hoisting cables through it. The cables guided the elevator up and down, but if they broke, the release of tension would throw the spring mechanism outward into the notches, preventing the cabin from falling.
Otis demonstrated his invention at New York’s Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1853. Otis’s alarming demonstration increased orders for his hoist machines. This simple safety device changed the attitude of the public towards being lifted within multi-storied buildings. Over the years Otis made several improvements to his elevator and patented other inventions, but he never managed to run a successful business. In 1857 Elisha Otis and the Otis Elevator Company began manufacturing passenger elevators. While Otis did not invent the first elevator, he did invent the brake system used in modern elevators, and his brakes made skyscrapers a practical reality. The first public elevator was installed by Otis in a five story department store owned by E.W. Haughtwhat and Company of Manhattan. Otis’s safety elevators would be used in tall landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings, becoming a brand name and key component in the skyscrapers that defined modern cities.
Otis had two sons, which helped him found the Elevator Union and General Machine Works Company. He died on 1861, leaving his sons to run the business with better business skills. Elisha Otis’s sons went on to found Otis Brothers and Company in Yonkers, New York. Eventually they achieved mass production of elevators in the thousands!
This weekend on our adventurer series we will be going to Berlin! We will be staying at the Radisson Blu Hotel! Have you stayed there? Inside the Radisson is the Berliln Sea Life Center. The main attraction is an 82 foot cylindrical acrylic glass aquarium. Can you guess what is at the center of this aquarium? Inside the center is a transparent glass elevator!
The aquarium is 36 feet across. This is the largest cylindrical acrylic aquairuim in the world. It holds almost 100 different species of tropical sea life. The feeding and cleaning of the aquarium is performed daily by a few divers. The price to ride the elevator is included in the admittance fee of the Sea Life Center. It takes about five minutes to ride to the top.
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