Cpartist who is often on the Building forum did. And I saw one recently in one of my FB groups that was an addition to their home for their visiting parents and it was gorgeous. I’ll see if I can find the one they used.

My very good friend just put one in their new home they built about a year ago now. It goes up and down from first floor to a huge walkout basement. I will be over there this weekend, as many times as I've been there, I've never actually even looked inside it. We always just go down the staircase. I will have to make a point to use it this weekend.

We currently have an elevator that goes to 2 of 3 floors. Our last house had one (all 4 floors) and our summer home in CO had one also (3 floors). Our current elevator is quieter than the last house. I'll have to ask DH the difference tomorrow. I use it multiple times a day since our Labradoodle lost her eyes. This is the company that made and installed our current elevator. It looks like the white one in the last photo, but we have a clear folding safety door rather than the metal interior safety door. We have it serviced once a year since I use it so much.

ETA: fwiw, we were told not to worry about a service agreement, just have it serviced once a year. We looked at cost and based it on only a few repairs on other elevators over the years (almost no problems).

Code might require another exit if the elevator was not functioning. At our last house it went up to the finished attic, so we had pull down attic stairs that opened into a closet downstairs.

My dad installed one in his house, and it enabled him to stay in the house until he died. He had a ranch with a full basement, and the laundry was downstairs. Even after he was wheelchair bound, he was still able to get up and down and have a small semblance of normal life. It also came in awfully handy when I was cleaning out his house. Lots of stuff that didn't have to be carried up the steps.

That was about 2010, and I think it cost him around $20k then. It was worth it for him.

My immediate thought was Cpartist. She’s awesome. Message her.

You might look at pneumatic elevators as they are much easier to retrofit into existing structures. They aren't pretty, but they work. I explored different options when I was thinking about buying a three-story house. My parents have one similar to the one @Allison0704 linked, but it was part of the original design and construction of the house.

According to my husband (naval engineer/architect by training), the extra space your parents installed around their stairs is what matters most. We had looked at a townhouse which would have benefited from an elevator and that is what he and the architect discussed, ad nauseam.

Just be sure they install an emergency phone in it, in case of mechanical failure.

Thanks, all. Here is a pic of the top of the stairs. same space down below

Not an elevator per say but a good friend, a wheeler, removed the lift chair and had a platform put in. These were basement stairs, totally enclosed so the unsightliness wasn't open to public view.

Jojo, glad you asked this question!

One of the very few negative aspects of our current home is the staircase access. In the Keys most homes are raised; the living quarters are reached via staircase. Almost universally there is an external staircase to get to the second floor. Some houses also have interior stairs.

Our house is a rarity in that there is not only no outside staircase but the only interior staircase is a spiral that IMO is a horrible accident waiting to happen. Husband loves it because as he says it is just like a lighthouse. But I've had guests actually recoil at the sight and I keep a tight grip on the railing at all times. Plus deliveries of anything large or bulky are almost impossible--we've had many delivery drivers simply refuse to even try to get stuff like appliances or a couch up there via the staircase because they simply cannot do it

Anyway longwinded way to say at some point if we are in this place long enough for mobility or vision or cognition to decay...we are going to need to put in an elevator too!

I remember posting a picture of a house that had an elevator that was added. Here it is. Looks like it would fit in the space your parents have.

See what I found on #Zillow!

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1405-Spring-Mill-Rd-Gladwyne-PA-19035/9967142_zpid/

DH said our last house originally was cable, but then changed to hydraulic.. It was louder than our current which is traction. Very smooth ride.

To retrofit, the website says you need a 60" x 60" space, which I believe does not include the materials used to enclose the elevator..

This reminds me of Katharine Hepburn in Suddenly Last Summer.

I had a client who had a three story house on the side of a cliff in North Beach (San Francisco) who had an elevator, but I would be afraid of being trapped in it during an earthquake. I wonder what happens during power outages - they can happen without earthquakes.

If a power outage or stops between floors, you can make the elevator lower to the next level to open. We have always had natural gas generators in houses with elevators anyway.

Sorry to be a buzzkill, but this made me think of something I read about some time back - children being severely injured or even killed in certain types of residential elevators because they managed to get inside the shaft when the elevator was on a different floor. I wish I could recall exactly what type of elevator it was.

Yes, but both were installed when the houses were built, not after. One couple just had a hiccup with theirs. Jim was in it when it stopped. They had the foresight to put a small flashlight inside when they bought the house and he had his phone with him. He kept pushing the buttons and it finally engaged. The repair guy said hime elevators are generally highly reliable, with no issues for 10-15 years or more. He found nothing wrong with theirs, and couldn't trace the problem or reproduce it. On the positive side, it was really a plus when Carol had major foot surgery after Christmas and needed to use it for a couple of months.

We have one in our beach house but it was installed when the house was built in 2006. It has been very useful for moving furniture, carrying groceries, and now for our older dog who has issues getting up and down the stairs. We have it serviced once a year (no contract) and have a dedicated landline in it. It is not expensive to maintain.

@carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b Doors on every floor should have devices on them towards the top edge of door that keep the doors closed/locked. All of our elevators "click(ed)" when it stopped at the desired floor. Doors cannot be opened unless the elevator is at that floor and the elevator has stopped. Once I opened the accordian door just as it was stopping and the alarm when off and the elevator stopped because it was not at the proper location. At our current house, you have to press the button on the wall next to the elevator to get the elevator door to open, or call the elevator if it's not at that floor. If it is not at that level, it does not open.

The device towards the top of the door also has a keyhole and there is a special long key (either metal or plastic) that is used to open the door for servicing or in an emergency. We have never had to use the key on any of our three elevators.

My aunt has one in a three story home in Virginia and my Bff with MS has one in her Park City house and had one in the Florida home they just sold. All three were Otis, big enough for four people and all had phones— which i assumed were code compliant. They’re the only residential elevators I know well. The Florida house was a retrofit and they had to add a wing to the house to accomodate it. Their Utah elevator was part of the original design. My aunt’s elevator was a retrofit within the existing structure. They rejigged the layout, using parts of bedrooms above and a small sitting room on the ground floor as landings. All looked nice and not like afterthoughts, if that would be a concern.

I would hope that elevators, like garage doors, have a sensor so if a person, pet, spider disrupts it, the elevator stops.

So my parents have nixed the idea of the elevator. My dad says he'd rather vaguely plan for a stair lift chair instead. When pressed for his reasons, he says that they like the look of their stairs but aren't ready for anything yet. Also, my dad would rather not spend the money on the elevator. (What my father doesn't realize is that is is very expensive to custom build a chair lift for a spiral staircase--I've seen rough quotes of 20K.) We agreed that I could research the chair lift so that when my dad feels they need it, they can move on it quickly. I bluntly told him that I'm afraid the realization for the need may come as a result of a fall. He said it might. (My dad thinks he is superman..)

So I have reached out to a NYC company that builds chair lifts AND home elevators. I only asked them about the chair. They have a showroom in NY that I'm sure also shows elevators. Maybe the salespeople can urge my parents toward an elevator. That's my hope.

Here are the stairs.

They are 89 years old. The thought of them going up and down these stairs several times a day scares the bejesus out of me. My mom is a pianist and her grand piano is upstairs. They both have offices up there as well.

The thing is, if they need a chair lift, they might then need assistance getting in and out of it. Not right away, but eventually. With that type of stair, it seems a chair will take up the entire width of the tread, and will someone be able to get from one end to the other to assist?

That IS a pretty stair.

Our observation in our family is that everything seems fine until age 85, then after 90 it’s absolutely not fine.

Jo, there are a couple homes in my neighborhood with elevators. The homes are not new construction. In fact, my next door neighbor has one. Not needed at all but comes in handy when bringing in groceries, etc. from the garage.

Your feelings are right - my over 99 mother still fights me on her independence with thinking she can still do things that make me cringe. Having foresight and being prepared is half the battle so doing your research now is a great idea. If not an elevator, a normal staircase which the space looks like it could handle would allow for the chair lift when needed.

Wow those are quite some stairs! I would not like 89-year-old parents climbing up those! I think chairlifts take longer as well to get up and down. Good luck!

Araphaho, like so many NYC duplexes, there is no room for a more traditional staircase. On the right side of the stairs is the entrance to the apartment. On the left it opens to the living room. Another point is that if something were to happen to them while they were upstairs, medical personnel would have a very difficult time getting them safely downstairs. I'm advocating for a classic looking elevator--not one of those neumatic tube types.

Your folks will have to lose part of a room on both floors to install an elevator but if it’s needed that’s a good tradeoff. The pneumatic tubes don't address the safety issues when evacuating people in emergencies. They may not even be legally able to replace the sole staircase in a home. That said, the spiral staircase itself is an accident waiting to happen. The thought of my 89 year old mother negotiating those stairs would keep me in a debilitating state of anxiety.

I wish you patience and good luck navigating this. IMO it is very selfish of older people to refuse to mitigate a potential problem when not doing so could likely create a huge problem for someone else to deal with. My mother finally agreed to move from her penthouse when I pointed out very plainly what would happen to her in a fire since she couldn’t get down the stairs herself. My intention was not to frighten her but to make sure she realized she would also be putting her neighbors and firefighters at great risk if they felt compelled to try and save her. That’s a high price to demand of others because she just didn’t want to move. Of course, people always think they will fall down and die immediately, for example, or be overcome with fumes before the fire reaches them. That’s the worst kind of wishful thinking. Sometimes you have to ask what they would do if they fell and were in horrible pain for a day with no one knowing and no way to reach the telephone they refuse to wear a life alert device because it looks ”tacky.”

Million dollar business idea for this group: design and market stylish, wearable life alert devices. Seems like we have many in-house models to use in our advertising.

Hhireno, GREAT idea!