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basement garage - diy dumb waiter

The land we plan to build our home on is a sloped lot. With the way the road comes in to it, the best place for a garage would be under the house. I've lived in a house like this before and the thought of carrying up groceries and our supplies, visitors' suitcases, etc. is going to be laborsome. I'm pretty fit now, but it's not going to get any easier! ;) Does anyone have this type of set-up and what have your solutions been? Any of you have a dumbwaiter? Costs? Any DIY made ones?

Tags: basement, dumbwaiter, garage

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Permalink Reply by Chris Wood on May 19, 2012 at 8:16am

Residential elevators are worth planning for, and their cost can be often be offset by building "up" rather than "out". Your walkout lower level finished basement cost is often less than a sprawling one story. But the land will ultimately dictate the design and retaining walls of beautiful stone could drive costs up.

A residential type elevator will take up a 60" x 60" space, with equipment and could cost $8k per floor. So $16k to go basement to 1st, $24k to add second floor. If you plan for it now in your construction, you can add it later. Design a recess in your basement slab, a removeable bolted subfloor, and a closet on first floor that can be converted later. These elevators will carry maybe 750lbs. Several companies offer the product and the finishes can get rather tasty.

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Permalink Reply by James W. Harbin on May 20, 2012 at 1:18pm

Chris is right on with his ideas and advise. If you plan to use wood heat you might consider a fireplace lift. It can serve two purposes and would cost less to do and add to the beautiful of a fireplace. Good Luck and have fun, Jim and Pam Katahdin Cedar Log Homes

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Permalink Reply by shanny on May 21, 2012 at 8:41am

Of course if you are like us....you don't really have that kind of money to invest in an elevator system.

So for the poor man, you can do like I saw at an old barn once where I purchased some ships knees.

He had a very basic system. He had a heavy iron pully wheel attached to a beam, and a pallet size lift platform that road on 2 x 4 tracks...attached to the cable he had a harbor freight hoist winch. Was still working many years later.

Thats if you folks are handy.

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Permalink Reply by Cynthia Gugg on May 21, 2012 at 11:21am

I love it! My husband is handy, I'm a handy-wanna-be and enjoy incorporating creative solutions. thanks for the idea!

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Permalink Reply by shanny on May 21, 2012 at 12:59pm

Yes.....we can be pretty creative when we have to be.

He made a yoke to either attach all four corners (or the two sides...can't remember)... which was attached the cable which ran over the pulley and attached to the winch on the other end.

He used a single 2" x 4" against on of the walls to the floor area to keep the small lift aligned so it would not get caugth going through the ceiling.

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Permalink Reply by BOB HUNTER on May 22, 2012 at 1:46pm

You might want to check out www.woodwaiter.com. They have lfits for moving fire wood from the basment to the first floor. They are are not overly expensive. I think they sell dumb waiters also.