Ask the Architect

Considering an elevator

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Q. We’re trying to decide many things about our home — whether to lift, move or stay put. We’re in our 70s and retired but still active, and take stairs to go to sleep each night, for now. With hip surgery looming, I’ll be staying in a guest room on the first floor, not expecting to climb all those stairs. But it got me wondering: Is it crazy to put in an elevator, especially considering lifting the house, since we also live in a flood area? (The whole first floor had to be redone.) What are the pros and cons?

A. Expense is probably the biggest con, since there are many good reasons to add a “lift.” However, you should do some math. Include how many years you hope to live in the house, the approximately $30,000 price tag and expenses to outfit the upper floor for accessibility, such as wider doorways and hallways, roll-in shower, roll-under sink vanity cabinet, grab bars and other worse-case scenarios. Also, assuming your home is paid for, imagine the taxes, historically, and what they will be, considering they have risen yearly and you probably aren’t paying for your own children’s schooling.

Consider using a top-mounted elevator motor drive system that sits well above the potential flood level so the repairs would be less costly if another flood occurs. After all this thought and jotting down the numbers, divide all that by the number of years you hope you’re granted, based on health history, average longevity of parents, aunts and uncles, etc. That’s your cost to put in an elevator.

I love design challenges, but often I end up being a marriage counselor, sitting around people’s breakfast tables, watching them argue over whether this makes sense. I hear reasons to stay and reasons to move, and moderate the usually highly charged emotional discussion by helping weigh these kinds of pros and cons. Half the time the couple elects to stay, and the other half they move instead. Many stay local, even though young couples looking for housing while trying to save for the American dream of homeownership, and older couples winding down, looking for a way to live with less maintenance, fewer expenses and the accessibility of larger buildings, have dwindling choices. We don’t have enough multi-family-zoned buildings for the population, and the ones we have are so expensive that many older people can’t afford them.

Consider the time frame to lift the home and the cost, adding in the elevator. Also consider how you’ll get out of the house if the power goes out, and what your emergency escape will be. I like elevators for people who will get many years of use for the investment or who can afford them and want to stay in their home. Otherwise, it may be time to consider moving. Hope you can stay locally. We lose a lot of great citizens over this issue. Good luck!

© 2016 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.