Elevator in house? Thinking of an age-in-place eventuality/mobility problems as we age

[Anonymous]

We had a chsirlift in the house I grew up in. It was there when we bought the house and we loved it as kids! It was super fun to sit in while my mom walked up and down the stairs. Lol. They ended up taking it out but I always thought it was great and could have used it when both parents broke their hips at diff times!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts ~ if the power goes out or some other problem if could shut down. Two couples I know with home elevators never enter the elevator unless they have their cell phones on them. To call for help. I don't know if their concern is reasonable but these 2 different couples are, otherwise, reasonable people.

I well remember the short story by Roald Dahl called The Way Up to Heaven on this exact subject. Maybe your friends have read it too.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_Up_to_Heaven

[Anonymous]

I think it's a great idea, my only advice/caveat would be to think about how willing and able you are to handle all the rest of the house "stuff" as you age. Both my parents and my in-laws had conversations around aging in place with renovations to their homes. They were in their 70's at the time.

Neither one opted to do it and one of the reasons was that as they got into their later 70's/early 80's they found they didn't want to deal with any of the rest of the house "stuff" like repairs and dealing with contractors, yard work, etc., especially as they are all still healthy and able bodied and like to travel.

My ILs built a new one-level house and rely on a couple of kids nearby to help with any work that they need done. My parents are moving to a retirement community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts ~ if the power goes out or some other problem if could shut down. Two couples I know with home elevators never enter the elevator unless they have their cell phones on them. To call for help. I don't know if their concern is reasonable but these 2 different couples are, otherwise, reasonable people.

What? Elevators have to have phones with a land line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts ~ if the power goes out or some other problem if could shut down. Two couples I know with home elevators never enter the elevator unless they have their cell phones on them. To call for help. I don't know if their concern is reasonable but these 2 different couples are, otherwise, reasonable people.

What? Elevators have to have phones with a land line.

The vacuum elevators automatically return to the ground floor in the event of a power outage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah right, elevator costs big bucks people!

true, but may be cheaper or better than moving.

A LOT cheaper than moving or than the kind of extensive renovation needed to create a bed and full bath on the main floor if you don't have one already. If you have a vertically-arranged house, much better to invest in the handy machine that will take you to where the rooms already are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a huge home elevator fan. My mom has had one in her house for 55 years and it is incredibly reliable with a tweak about once a decade. If you have space in your house to fit one, it's much better than a stairlift because you don't have the separate problem of transporting equipment (walker, wheelchair) to the other floor. And once you have one available for moving heavy objects or elderly dogs, you won't look back.

I can't tell you how many elderly friends and now increasingly friends my age (50s-60s) faced with sudden disability have had to make a move in a hurry. The elevator solves that problem.

Mom's is serviced by Preferred Elevator, Baltimore-based but works in DC all the time. Very nice people and they will evaluate the options for your house.

The ability to move stuff up and down would be awesome even now - my DH still moves furniture around as needed and it can't be good for his back...We have plenty of room for an elevator, but just don't know where it would go. Sounds like a company like that could tell us.

What kind of furniture? I thought home elevators are small, nothing like a building elevator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a great idea, my only advice/caveat would be to think about how willing and able you are to handle all the rest of the house "stuff" as you age. Both my parents and my in-laws had conversations around aging in place with renovations to their homes. They were in their 70's at the time.

Neither one opted to do it and one of the reasons was that as they got into their later 70's/early 80's they found they didn't want to deal with any of the rest of the house "stuff" like repairs and dealing with contractors, yard work, etc., especially as they are all still healthy and able bodied and like to travel.

My ILs built a new one-level house and rely on a couple of kids nearby to help with any work that they need done. My parents are moving to a retirement community.

Excellent point. My ILs also did not want to deal with house maintenance and moved to a 2 bdrm one story condo.

[Anonymous]

I think you are focused on mobility inside the house and are less focused on the logistics of staying in a house during a long aging process. Are you aware of how much it costs to have in-home caregivers on a nearly 24 hour basis? Are you going to be able to afford that, potentially for years? Are you or your loved ones going to have the cognitive ability/time to manage in-home workers and all the supplies that are needed for that kind of caregiving? Because when people reach the point that they can’t go up and down stairs, that is usually not the only disability they are dealing with. And at that point, having a huge house to move around in is not necessarily a plus. My elderly father is at home now but his mobility has gotten to the point where he essentially just lives in one room, the TV room, in a hospital bed. Whether or not he had a elevator would have been completely irrelevant to his aging in his large house. In fact, my mother does not want his caregivers going up to her bedroom, which is their shared room, so she would not even want him going up and down the stairs in the house. I just feel like people who think having an elevator is going to make a difference believe that aging it is just a matter of a few handy tools, hand holds and such, when in fact it is the changing of your life on a huge basis and almost everything that seemed important to you is going to seem much less so and your ability to do even basic stuff like get dressed with be dramatically curtailed. Me, I am planning to live close to my kids, in a continuing care apartment, with as little stuff as possible after the age of 75.

[Anonymous]

Are you in the midst of a huge renovation? If not, why is this an issue now? A lot could change in a few decades, so you don't even know if you'll be in your house then.

[Anonymous]

I thought I remember reading about how dangerous they are? Children falling down the shaft, getting caught in the door, etc.? Assuming grandchildren are involved!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you are focused on mobility inside the house and are less focused on the logistics of staying in a house during a long aging process. Are you aware of how much it costs to have in-home caregivers on a nearly 24 hour basis? Are you going to be able to afford that, potentially for years? Are you or your loved ones going to have the cognitive ability/time to manage in-home workers and all the supplies that are needed for that kind of caregiving? Because when people reach the point that they can’t go up and down stairs, that is usually not the only disability they are dealing with. And at that point, having a huge house to move around in is not necessarily a plus. My elderly father is at home now but his mobility has gotten to the point where he essentially just lives in one room, the TV room, in a hospital bed. Whether or not he had a elevator would have been completely irrelevant to his aging in his large house. In fact, my mother does not want his caregivers going up to her bedroom, which is their shared room, so she would not even want him going up and down the stairs in the house. I just feel like people who think having an elevator is going to make a difference believe that aging it is just a matter of a few handy tools, hand holds and such, when in fact it is the changing of your life on a huge basis and almost everything that seemed important to you is going to seem much less so and your ability to do even basic stuff like get dressed with be dramatically curtailed. Me, I am planning to live close to my kids, in a continuing care apartment, with as little stuff as possible after the age of 75.

YES!! My parents wanted to age in place in there 3000sqft, one level, home. I fought so hard for them to move closer to me into IL at a CCRC. But they loved that house and all their stuff. Then a health crisis meant they had to move quickly. Well, now they were to old and sick to manage downsizing, selling a house, moving and setting up a new place. That was all me. It was so stressful. I've been through a lot, but nothing so stressful. And once they were settled, guess what they didn't miss--their big house and all their stuff. My Dad admitted how much happier he was in the smaller IL apartment and wished he had moved sooner. By the time they had moved, they were too old and sick to make new friends and have a social life.

[Anonymous]

I agree with 9:48. If you need an elevator, your problems will likely be much bigger than just needing an elevator. After my mom had a stroke she insisted on getting the stairway chair installed so she could keep living in her house. But she could not dress, bathe or feed herself and had to have a nurse come help her. Eventually we convinced her to move into assisted living. The stairway chair was a big waste of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought I remember reading about how dangerous they are? Children falling down the shaft, getting caught in the door, etc.? Assuming grandchildren are involved!

+1 I’ve always heard horror stories. Would never buy a house with one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are focused on mobility inside the house and are less focused on the logistics of staying in a house during a long aging process. Are you aware of how much it costs to have in-home caregivers on a nearly 24 hour basis? Are you going to be able to afford that, potentially for years? Are you or your loved ones going to have the cognitive ability/time to manage in-home workers and all the supplies that are needed for that kind of caregiving? Because when people reach the point that they can’t go up and down stairs, that is usually not the only disability they are dealing with. And at that point, having a huge house to move around in is not necessarily a plus. My elderly father is at home now but his mobility has gotten to the point where he essentially just lives in one room, the TV room, in a hospital bed. Whether or not he had a elevator would have been completely irrelevant to his aging in his large house. In fact, my mother does not want his caregivers going up to her bedroom, which is their shared room, so she would not even want him going up and down the stairs in the house. I just feel like people who think having an elevator is going to make a difference believe that aging it is just a matter of a few handy tools, hand holds and such, when in fact it is the changing of your life on a huge basis and almost everything that seemed important to you is going to seem much less so and your ability to do even basic stuff like get dressed with be dramatically curtailed. Me, I am planning to live close to my kids, in a continuing care apartment, with as little stuff as possible after the age of 75.

YES!! My parents wanted to age in place in there 3000sqft, one level, home. I fought so hard for them to move closer to me into IL at a CCRC. But they loved that house and all their stuff. Then a health crisis meant they had to move quickly. Well, now they were too old and sick to manage downsizing, selling a house, moving and setting up a new place. That was all me. It was so stressful. I've been through a lot, but nothing so stressful. And once they were settled, guess what they didn't miss--their big house and all their stuff. My Dad admitted how much happier he was in the smaller IL apartment and wished he had moved sooner. By the time they had moved, they were too old and sick to make new friends and have a social life.

That was me 10 years ago. I feel your pain!

Except parents hated their new place and pined for their old house and all their 30 years of junk.