Residential Elevators | Advent Home & Access

Elevators Are the Next Step Up;  Conversions Gain in Popularity For Aging or Infirm Homeowners

The Washington Post / June 25, 2005 / Elizabeth Festa

The Washington region is "one of the largest growth areas we have right now," said Ray Varner, East Coast sales representative for Inclinator Co. of America, which bills itself as the oldest residential elevator manufacturer in America, dating from 1929. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars to add an elevator to a house. Still, Varner said, "prices of homes now on the East Coast have gravitated to the point where the elevator is not changing the cost of your mortgage to a great degree."

Townhouses in upscale Hillandale can be retrofitted with an elevator by knocking out a stack of closets, and the Berminghams' neighbors have also installed elevators. The ride is smooth and quiet in newer elevators and the elevator entry looks like a closet door with call buttons. The only problem, Sue Bermingham said, is that the elevator cab in her house -- at 21/2 feet square -- cannot accommodate a wheelchair. The design of the house didn't allow a larger elevator, she said. "Fortunately, my husband learned to walk enough so he could walk into [the cab] and we had a seat made," she said.

The elevator in Lynn Anderholm's Alexandria house, at 40 inches by 54 inches, can accommodate not only her wheelchair but also an attendant. Anderholm, in her early fifties, suffers from Parkinson's disease. She installed the elevator as part of a project to rework the entire house so she could move about.