[drzonko]

I'm from NY and just bought a house with a finished basement. Im in a manual chair with high mobility. I am looking at getting an elevator(lift) installed in the house. They are going to charge $12,000 for this lift: http://www.vertical-platform-lifts.com/pro...plstveplli.html
A chair lift on the stairs will not work because the stairs are L shaped
Has anyone had an elevator installed in their house like this one? Are there other options (beside the stair-char or a large slingshot)

[edlee]

I've been using the same unit for about two years, now. No problems, so far. They also put doors top and bottom that open and close automaticly.

I have the hydraulic model, with battery back up,,,, power goes off on occasion. The hydraulics are noisier than I thought they would be, but with the doors it's not too annoying for others in the house.

Good luck,
ed

[hartcreek]

I built my own. I needed one in my shop for when I am preminantly chairbound and so that I can raise and lower heavy stuff to the second floor. I used a common electric hoist that one can buy from Northern Tool or Harbor Freight with a one ton chain hoist as a backup for whe the power is out. Since I can weld I do not have $500 into my whole elevator and it will handle 2000 pounds.


The elevator guys are just trying to rip you off. There is a sperrate standard for private elevators and you do not have to pay the twwelve grand rip off.

I can send you photos of mine and you can easily duplicate it. I also built hand controls for cars and have a gal driving around with one of my prototypes that cost less then a hundred dollars.

drzonko, on Oct 30 2008, 03:31 PM, said:

I'm from NY and just bought a house with a finished basement. Im in a manual chair with high mobility. I am looking at getting an elevator(lift) installed in the house. They are going to charge $12,000 for this lift: http://www.vertical-platform-lifts.com/pro...plstveplli.html
A chair lift on the stairs will not work because the stairs are L shaped
Has anyone had an elevator installed in their house like this one? Are there other options (beside the stair-char or a large slingshot)

[edlee]

There's a reason they cost so much,,, and most of it deals with lawsuits.
ed

[LuckyinKentucky]

I built my own as well, but it is for my hunting blind. I just used steel and had it welded while using a warn winch for thew power. Has worked great for about three years now. All together it cost me around 700$ but I had to elevate over 20 feet from floor to floor, for a single story you could use half the material I required. I can go take some pics also if you want some ideas.

[hartcreek]

I contacted the State Elevator inspector. The problem stems from my state Washington where some idiot built an elevator that had a lift of more then one hundred feet and they only used a single winch. The cable broke killing several people including the disabled person that it was constructed for which happened to be a judge's daughter. If the idiot had used dual winches operating at the same time there never would have been a problem.

I also contacted numerous lift manufacures for a customer and found no lifts that would raise on battery power. They would lower but for my customer it had to raise as access to the cabin was up slope so all the manufactured lifts would be useless because they would not raise.

In This state and others there is no law prohibiting owner installation of a private lift so you can build it and install it yourself. Ton hoists with fifty feet of cable are inexpensive. For a customer I would simply use two of them with a chain hoist backup for poweroutage usage. I ran mine up and down with a chain hoist for a year befor I spotted an electric one on sale at Harbor Freight.

I routeenly use my lift to raise lathes, presses, motorcycles and snowblowers ect. up off the main floor of my shop.

[jules]

Just a thought, but you can get stair lifts that will fit any type of stairs or shape of stairs including spiral staircases. My stairs are not straight, there is a curve at the bottom and top, and I have a stair lift

Jules

[edlee]

Any hydraulic porch lift (mine for instance) can be battery powered. In fact mine is at all times, with the float charger on it at all times. I have used it for five lifts during a power outage and noticed no slowing of the lift at all. Surprised me, too.

Mine was ordered with 9 feet of lift, but I'm told that 12 ft is doable without a problem.

Lucky,, I would , very much, like to have some further info, and pictures of your hunting blind. I have a perfect spot to put one, if I knew how to do it. I have a lot of ideas floating about, but seeing what actually works would really help.
Thanks
ed

[LuckyinKentucky]

Allright I went and took a few pics. quality isnt the best as I used my cellphone, but if you want some closer pics of anything lemme know. exact floor to floor distance is 23 feet. I went a bit overkill on the winch as I think it is rated for around 5000 lbs.

[LuckyinKentucky]

And a few more.] Took these while on an ATV. If i take some more i can take my chair back there and put the four wheeler or car in the pic so you can get an idea of scale.

This post has been edited by LuckyinKentucky: 10 July 2009 - 11:52 PM

[edlee]

Whoa baby,,,,, that's not a tree stand,,, more like a tree house. Couldn't be sure, but it looks like the lift is pretty much a basket with the winch attached to the top. I can see that the chain hoist would work pretty well, too.

I was thinking more on the line of a platform I could roll onto, then raise up a pair of steeply sloped pipes or tube steel. I wasn't planning to spend the night.

Your's looks like it could have 3 bedrooms and a bath,,,, in fact is bigger than my first apartment.

I'm guessing you have a few ironworkers in your circle of friends,,,, How long did it take to put that thing up?
ed

[hartcreek]

Mine is probablyt more wht you are thinking about.....I will dig through my welding projests to get the photos.

edlee, on Jul 11 2009, 07:57 PM, said:

Whoa baby,,,,, that's not a tree stand,,, more like a tree house. Couldn't be sure, but it looks like the lift is pretty much a basket with the winch attached to the top. I can see that the chain hoist would work pretty well, too.

I was thinking more on the line of a platform I could roll onto, then raise up a pair of steeply sloped pipes or tube steel. I wasn't planning to spend the night.

Your's looks like it could have 3 bedrooms and a bath,,,, in fact is bigger than my first apartment.

I'm guessing you have a few ironworkers in your circle of friends,,,, How long did it take to put that thing up?
ed

[edlee]

Thanks ,, I'd appreciate that.
ed

[LuckyinKentucky]

It took a friend and I about 2 months for everything, blind and lift. His uncle is a welder and basically welded the two vertical rails and the basket and we just propped them up and attached the bracing. Like an over sized erector set that you have to pick up with a tractor.

My original idea was to use a chain hoist but I couldn't find one that could lift more than ten or fifteen feet then I thought block and tackle but it seemed it would be unsafe to fasten the basket in the raised position. I just use a deep cell battery for power which lasts about 20 lifts, I bought a solar charger to put on top of the basket to keep it always fully charged but haven't installed it yet.

You could use a similar design if you wanted it on a slope. The castors on the outside of the basket are held within the span of the angle iron casing the basket to be quite snug. Depending on the angle you would only need two pieces forming a single "rail".

[gordonr]

LuckyinKentucky, on Jul 12 2009, 06:58 PM, said:

It took a friend and I about 2 months for everything, blind and lift. His uncle is a welder and basically welded the two vertical rails and the basket and we just propped them up and attached the bracing. Like an over sized erector set that you have to pick up with a tractor.

My original idea was to use a chain hoist but I couldn't find one that could lift more than ten or fifteen feet then I thought block and tackle but it seemed it would be unsafe to fasten the basket in the raised position. I just use a deep cell battery for power which lasts about 20 lifts, I bought a solar charger to put on top of the basket to keep it always fully charged but haven't installed it yet.

You could use a similar design if you wanted it on a slope. The castors on the outside of the basket are held within the span of the angle iron casing the basket to be quite snug. Depending on the angle you would only need two pieces forming a single "rail".

Hat's Off Lucky!

That is a thing of beauty.

-g

[edlee]

I am impressed. Is the stand attached to trees, or did you use telephone poles?

Are the rollers at the top and the bottom,,, and if not does it get a little tippy rolling on and off?

You have given me quite a few ideas,,,, now if I can just get my lazy ass moving, maybe I,ll have something for deer season.
ed

PS by the way,,, what's the story behind that notch in the roof,,, you're not shooting ducks from there, are you???
ed

This post has been edited by edlee: 13 July 2009 - 07:12 PM

[LuckyinKentucky]

edlee, on Jul 13 2009, 12:10 PM, said:

I am impressed. Is the stand attached to trees, or did you use telephone poles?

Are the rollers at the top and the bottom,,, and if not does it get a little tippy rolling on and off?

You have given me quite a few ideas,,,, now if I can just get my lazy ass moving, maybe I,ll have something for deer season.
ed

PS by the way,,, what's the story behind that notch in the roof,,, you're not shooting ducks from there, are you???
ed

The trees we cut down on site from a nearby cedar thicket, we wrapped the bases with big garbage bags sunk em 6-8 ft & concreted em in.
Digging those dang holes was the worst part of the project!

The rollers are on all four corners there is maybe 1/2 inch of play but not enough to let it tip or jar at all, once you get the weight on it it just rolls right up on the heaviest point.

As for the notch, it was for another ladder their is a rubber roof on top so you can walk on it. We were gonna put a rail up there for an "upper deck" but realized soon after getting it up that there was no need to be any higher.

[MikeInBmore]

hartcreek, on Jul 9 2009, 08:39 PM, said:

I also built hand controls for cars and have a gal driving around with one of my prototypes that cost less then a hundred dollars.

I'm really interested in learning more about these diy hand controls.

[dancin' johnny]

I like this guys solution:

[hartcreek]

Been in the woods and I just got back The photos on my lift should be attached

hartcreek, on Jul 11 2009, 10:11 PM, said:

Mine is probablyt more wht you are thinking about.....I will dig through my welding projests to get the photos.

edlee, on Jul 11 2009, 07:57 PM, said:

Whoa baby,,,,, that's not a tree stand,,, more like a tree house. Couldn't be sure, but it looks like the lift is pretty much a basket with the winch attached to the top. I can see that the chain hoist would work pretty well, too.

I was thinking more on the line of a platform I could roll onto, then raise up a pair of steeply sloped pipes or tube steel. I wasn't planning to spend the night.

Your's looks like it could have 3 bedrooms and a bath,,,, in fact is bigger than my first apartment.

I'm guessing you have a few ironworkers in your circle of friends,,,, How long did it take to put that thing up?
ed

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