A vacuum elevator in your own home

Why would you need an elevator in your home?

There are many reasons people might have for having an elevator installed in their residence.

1. You might have a handicap that requires you to be in a wheelchair
2. You might need assistance going up the stairs due to knee or foot problems
3. You might be so overweight that the stairs just aren't an option anymore
4. Your house might be too small to accommodate a staircase whereas an elevator would take up less space
5. You might want the extra comfort of being able to take the elevator when you're tired
6. You may just want to show off as it's cool to have your own elevator.
7. You might need to shuttle stuff up and down in your house, like if the kitchen is downstairs

Surely this list isn't exhaustive and whatever your reason for installing an elevator in your house is valid as well. The reality is that more and more people are choosing to install a residential elevator.

How does a vacuum elevator work

The vacuum elevator is very different from the classic, counterweighted pull up mechanism that we all know as elevators. Instead it uses vacuum suction to transport you up and down the shaft. It's limited in that it can only lift you a maximum of 35 feet, but this is not a problem for most homes. You get into a type of cylinder that encloses you. The cylinder is inside a tube and in order to hoist you up, the air is sucked out of the tube above you creating a vacuum and you're pulled upward by the vacuum. Getting down is the same process but in reverse, air is gradually let back in the upper part of the tube and you're lowered down to ground level.

The system is extremely safe, with mechanical handbrakes installed just in case anything should go wrong and I think it's just simply beautiful too.

My experience with the vacuum elevator

A friend of mine is in a wheelchair. Has been pretty much all her life and she's not one to take such a thing lying down. She was born completely spastic and the doctors told her parents that she'd never amount to anything. Well, that doctor couldn't have been more wrong. Her father took it as a challenge and she picked up that baton after she became adult. When she was 15 she was in a special care hospital where they would help her with anything and everything and she had to fight to keep doing things for herself so she wouldn't lose the muscle control she had spent half her life gaining.

At 16 she was organizing mixed parties at the institute (mixed in the sense that there were handicapped and non handicapped people attending, and boys and girls of course). She fell in love with a handsome, non-handicapped man and they got a home together. Then she got pregnant and needed a bigger home. She didn't have a lot of money but she had a big dream. To have her house be a model for handicapped housing everywhere and with her smartphone she contacted architects and contractors galore and with shrewd bussiness sense and a lot of determination she now owns a beautiful two story home which is fully wheelchair accessible.

When installing her vacuum elevator she had a bit of a discussion with the builder. He wanted to install it so that she could go from the ground floor to the second floor only. "No need to go into the basement" he said. She nearly threw a fit! She was livid as it was her intent that she have a fully accessible home. Of course she got what she wanted, she's that kind of woman.

Anyway, the elevator moves smoothly and her rather large electric wheelchair fits it without any problem. Her daughter uses the elevator as well and proudly shows it off to her friends.
"There are advantages to having a handicapped mom" she tells them.

Wheelchair safe and luxurious to behold

Aside from residential installations the vacuum elevator is also being installed in buildings like a cinema. It's limited capacity is more than offset by the limited space it occupies and it's beauty. The installation is quite simple and the folks at vacuum elevators are working closely together with architects to make sure that your installation is working properly and installed beautifully into your home.

There's a type of turbine at the top that provides the suction that lifts the cabin but other than that no unsightly machinery, no basement full of bulky equipment to make room for
.