#1: Make Your House More Accessible

We've built the Project House to be completely wheelchair accessible-all public and common areas are accessible by wheelchair, the interior doorways are extra-wide, the light switches and environmental controls are located in accessible locations, and since this is a two-story home, we've installed a residential elevator.

When considering an elevator for your home, you should apply the same standards to a home elevator that you would to other major appliances. You want an elevator that takes up a minimal amount of space, is cost-effective, energy efficient, and is low-maintenance.

We've managed to achieve all those characteristics in the Project House by choosing an elevator from Access Industries. It's called a "LEV", and it has a design that's unique in the world of home elevators.

The Project House elevator is different in that this elevator has hydraulic components and requires no separate machine room. Instead, the Access Industries LEV operates using a counterweight system, just like many commercial-grade elevators in large office buildings.

For that reason, the LEV's "footprint" is smaller than that found in traditional elevators. Basically, a two-person crew attaches a track to a pre-built shaft, and then places counterweights on the backside of the track. A "carriage" bracket is put on front of the track, and two big bicycle type #60 grade chains connect the two components. These chains run up the shaft, and over a sprocket on an electric motor.

The carriage itself is assembled to rest on the bracket.

Our elevator has multiple layers of safety features so individuals inside and outside of the car can be safe. Our elevator has an in-car phone, and emergency alarm, a car gate safety switch and a battery-powered lowering device, which enables safe descent in the event of a power outage.

Contact Information:

Access Industries
(816) 763-3100