Cohousing-L Mailing List: Elevators [Was Innovative Models for Independent, Assisted and Full Care Homes

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

Our elevator was required to fulfill a requirement for accessible units— either 
a zoning requirement or a requirement for certain types of funding.

But as I understand it there are different levels of elevators. The one we have 
goes to 3 floors plus the basement—the building is 4 stories in some places but 
the 4th are interior bedrooms. As I was told above that number of floors a 
different type of mechanism would be required and would be much more expensive. 
That might have changed since 2000 since technology is racing forward.

3 floors is a workable height for emergency evacuations and when the elevator 
is out of service. Walking up or down is only 2 flights of stairs, and carrying 
someone down is doable.  And people will deliver when there are only 2 flights 
of stairs.

If you have a taller building, two elevators become necessary because walking 
up and down is not possible for many people. I lived on the 7th floor in a 
building with one elevator. It was out for weeks for emergency repairs. It was 
a real hardship for many people who had to severely restrict their outdoor 
trips and some had to evacuate to other places. 

People often criticize using elevators because of the amount of electricity 
they require. When I researched this, and I’m not an expert on electricity use, 
the elevator was lower than a hot tub on the the sources I found in California. 
The elevator has weights and finely tuned mechanisms that do much of the work. 
The electricity is more like a starter — probably not that minimal but in that 
range.

Perhaps there is someone else actually who knows about elevators?

Sharon
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Sharon Villines, Washington DC
"We're only the light bulbs, and our job is just to remain screwed in.” Bishop 
Desmond Tutu