# Our home built bird cage elevator



## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

Steel beams in elevator shaft.


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

Steel mesh walls on 2 sides of elevator.


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

Decorative steel doors held in place with magnets while elevator is in motion.


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

If you have an elevator you have to have an "Out of Order" sign for when maintenance is underway. :biggrin2:


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## cat's_pajamas (May 9, 2018)

Holy Cow! That's impressive.

Now any/all projects I undertake are officially "chopped liver".:vs_laugh:


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## gma2rjc (Nov 21, 2008)

That is beautiful Annie. Thanks for showing us.


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## CaptTom (Dec 31, 2017)

That's awesome!

I just can't help but wonder about all the regulations and permitting required for an elevator. Presumably it would be less for residential use than commercial. But when you consider the level of detail in the plumbing, electrical and framing codes, I shudder to think what they must say about elevators!


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## Two Knots (Nov 12, 2011)

That is fantastic! good job! :thumbsup:


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

WOW..... You must have a BIG bird.....:wink2:










Nice Job Annie....:smile:


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

Quite impressive.


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## cat's_pajamas (May 9, 2018)

MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> WOW..... You must have a BIG bird.....:wink2:


Hahahah. When I first read the title "Our Home Built Bird Cage Elevator", my first thought was, "What sort of spoiled pet bird needs an elevator...he must have a huge cage".


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

What do you do in case it breaks down & you're home alone? Not being negative, I'm the type that leaves my phone behind.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Speaking of safety.

What kind of safety did you build into it if a cable happens to break while between floors?

even a short fall could hurt . 

And safety is paramount when we get mature.

And you mentioned that any emergency services are hours away.

Your elevator is beautiful, and a needed convenience.

Good Job.


ED


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

CaptTom said:


> That's awesome!
> 
> I just can't help but wonder about all the regulations and permitting required for an elevator. Presumably it would be less for residential use than commercial. But when you consider the level of detail in the plumbing, electrical and framing codes, I shudder to think what they must say about elevators!



We wondered about that too so we called in a realtor and asked if it might be a problem. My biggest worry was "What if we want to sell later and the banks won't lend with a home built elevator in the hosue and no internal stairs?" The realtor then checked with insurance and bank people and all said no problem. There is no regulating or building to code where we live as we are in the wildernesss. We couldn't get people to come out and inspect anything we have done and still do at our home. The only people who ever come out here in any sort of official capacity are the electric meter readers and the IRS. A tax assessor comes out every few years to see what buildings we may have added to the property so they can raise our taxes but other than that I doubt if there's even an elevator in the town of Colville, which is our nearest town an hour drive away. In the worst case scenario we can build on stairs to an outside wall, enclose them and make internal access and call the elevator a dumb waiter for lifting firewood and other goods up and down.


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> WOW..... You must have a BIG bird.....:wink2:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Hahaha Too Funny !!! :vs_laugh: :vs_laugh: :vs_laugh:


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

"The only people who ever come out here in any sort of official capacity are the electric meter readers and the IRS. A tax assessor comes out every few years to see what buildings we may have added to the property so they can raise our taxes"

Now if you can eliminate those you can officially call it heaven.

Bud


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

Nik333 said:


> What do you do in case it breaks down & you're home alone? Not being negative, I'm the type that leaves my phone behind.



As a matter of fact a couple of years ago I was in Australia visiting my family and my husband stayed home while I did this trip alone. He was in the elevator between floors when we had a blackout and the elevator just stopped between floors. Our ceilings are only 8 feet high. My husband is 6'3" so when he found himself stuck between floors he just pushed open magnetised decorative door on the upper floor and climbed out 2 feet. We had a good laugh about it but are in the process of setting up our house so that our generator automatically kicks in when we have a power outage. Right now we have to manually turn it over to generator power but once the automated system kicks in there will be a few seconds of outage then the power will come back on automatically. The elevator won't restart on it's own but all we will have to do is push the up or down button to continue.  I have also been alone in the house often but I always carry a house phone with me in case of just an emergency then I can call a neighbour to help me out while we all laugh. :vs_laugh:


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

de-nagorg said:


> Speaking of safety.
> 
> What kind of safety did you build into it if a cable happens to break while between floors?
> 
> ...


Ed, funny you should mention that. When it was first built and we were still ironing out the wrinkles of using it (so to speak) the cable did break when we were only a few inches off the lower floor. We have rubber bumpers that it sat on when it dropped. It didn't hit hard but is was a scary jerk at the time. That's when we changed over to a heavier cable and when we started the elevator log book and regular maintenance inspections and changing of the cable. We have no children so it's just the 2 of us who use it but that little incident taught us to respect the power of the elevator.


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## CaptTom (Dec 31, 2017)

OutbackAnnie said:


> ... There is no regulating or building to code where we live as we are in the wildernesss...


That explains it. You have no idea how fortunate you are! I think in our town you need a permit if you're going to hang a picture on the wall. And no doubt you'd need to hire an engineer to analyze the picture hanger.


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

CaptTom said:


> That explains it. You have no idea how fortunate you are! I think in our town you need a permit if you're going to hang a picture on the wall. And no doubt you'd need to hire an engineer to analyze the picture hanger.



Yes, some HOA's get ovezealous about rules and regs. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing but nothing is ever inspected here. When we first moved here we asked our neighbours who we should talk to about getting permits for the elevator and they just laughed. They pretty much said "Permits? We don't need no stinkin' permits around here. Just build what you want." So we do!


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

OutbackAnnie said:


> Yes, some HOA's get ovezealous about rules and regs. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing but nothing is ever inspected here. When we first moved here we asked our neighbours who we should talk to about getting permits for the elevator and they just laughed. They pretty much said "Permits? We don't need no stinkin' permits around here. Just build what you want." So we do!



With all due respect to the OP....

Elevators are a HIGHLY safety/maintenance ruled and regulated machine, along with any other vertical lift device that will be lifting people. Every year probably, the elevator manufacturers are coming out with newer and better safety features for elevators. And every one of these features were motivated by the same action: People have gotten injured or died as a result of a elevator incident, either inside the cab or outside of it. The new safety feature is designed to help prevent another reoccurrence of the incident. 

Each state will have a state elevator inspections office that has inspectors working year round, while doing their mandatory annual inspections. 

And my having worked in maintenance for two large hospitals, I have spent a lot of time with our state elevator inspectors and, our elevator service contractor. So I assure the OP, if they will type in " Washington state Elevator Inspections" in their browser, they will find the permit office or mailing address. 

And a LOT more probably, they really do not want to know about the ownership of an elevator. The liabilities of operating an elevator even when permitted, and that passes all inspections annually...are daunting. JMO


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

Gregsoldtruck,

I have no doubt that what you say is very true and correct and that was my main concern before we even started this project. When we researched laws, premits and safety regulations we found that some states don't even allow residential elevators. We made calls to all sorts of people and got no response or answers to any of our questions and that's when we then approached our neighours about who to call. That's when we get my above response. We seem to be in some sort of dead zone in the wilderness and people in any sort of official capacity tend to turn a blind eye to us and pretend we aren't really here. (Except for the IRS of course - they watch everything we do on the outside of the property). IF push comes to shove and we want to sell it and we have concerns we can put some shelves in it and call it a dumb waiter for hauling goods up and down. We do have outside stairs and in case of such concerns we would build more stairs. We've covered angles as best as we could under our circumstances but yes we do understand the safety concerns.


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

OBA,

I totally understand your situation and again, I was not bashing your project. 

While knowing this DIY site with its many forums helping DIY'ers, especially the electrical forums where the regular members go above and beyond their call of duty to warn DIYer's of the pitfalls of not getting permits and inspections... I had to put in my two cents. 

With the amount of readers on this site worldwide daily, I felt the readers should KNOW, homemade elevators are not ones average closet building project and are VERY $$$$ to get done. 

And for a person to have one in their home non permitted and not up to standard operational designs, can play HAVOC...with their homeowners liability insurance if someone gets hurt or killed in their elevator and litigations are pursued.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Just a few things come to mind.
I would want the winch in the basement closet where it can be inspected often.
Emergency breaking, if I remember right 7 ft in normal speed elevator or about 1/2 second of free fall. May not mean much in a one floor lift.
Power outages?


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

On edit to OBA,

And I am not going to mention all the things that can go wrong with your elevator that is safety related. Because if I did, you will most likely go ahead and make it a closet. Even the people that wired and built it, if they are not certified and licensed elevator technicians are culpable in any " possible" litigations. JMO


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

I appreciate all the concerns posted here. I should have noted that although it's no excuse not to have it permitted I did go over all the above reasons and concerns in my previous posts why this project isn't permitted. 

My husband is an aeronautical engineer and he over engineers everything if there is such a thing. He is licensed to build airplanes and is also an airworthyness inspector of planes so he knew what he was doing as far as safety in concerned. 

Himself (husband) isn't a backyard Joe. By that logic above if someone reads about installing a toilet here in these pages and then gets their behind stuck in it or buys a bidet instead of a toilet and gets wets with water when they tried to flush it's not the fault of the original poster who showed photos of their new toilet installation project. 

Again I do understand and appreciate your concerns and warnings but this is a strange area we live in. Kind of like the forgotten zone for rules and permits. Unfortunately relevant people in this area would rather come over after a project is finished then slap your wrists, slap you with a hefty fine for building it then slap you with an order to demolish it than come over to see what it is you are wanting to build and tell you no from the start. 

At this point I will put in a discalimer:

Please don't try this at home. 

No offense taken and none meant. Just sayin'.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

OutbackAnnie said:


> I have no doubt in his ability but I do worry about that hacks or should I say the DIYers that read this stuff and attempt to copy with out enough thought. It's not a matter of whose fault something would be but just getting all the thoughts out there for them to read and think about.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

The idea that started an elevator empire. Elisha Otis (Otis Elevator) invented a safety brake. Tension on the lifting rope pulled pawls out of the sawtooth shaped ratchet strips. If the rope broke, the pawls would snap into the ratchet strips and immediately stop the elevator. To demonstrate his product, Otis would climb onto a full size model and intentionally cut the lifting rope.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

OutbackAnnie said:


> My husband is an aeronautical engineer and he over engineers everything if there is such a thing.



Does the Birdcage Elevator fly, also?:surprise::wink2:


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## ddsrph (Nov 23, 2013)

Your project looks great and you will get a lot of use out of it. However if you ever sell the house I would remove it and insure that no one ever tries to reassemble and use. 
Being in a rural area with no inspectors ( for instance my county in TN opted out of home construction inspections) but this does not mean you aren’t still subject to complying with State building codes. It would only come up if something bad happened but come up it would. Like some else mentioned all states regulate and inspect elevators and it doesn’t matter what county you are in or presence or absence of local inspections.


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## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

Regardless of permitting or no permitting regulations, I would not want to use an elevator without an elevator brake.


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## romeojk27 (Jul 26, 2018)

This is soo cool. Thanks for sharing and enjoy. Wow, someday I’d love to put an elevator in, but I’d have to put a second floor in first!


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## ddsrph (Nov 23, 2013)

To put your mind at ease about your elevator I would consider calling the Washington State elevator inspection office and tell them you are considering building a homemade elevator in your home and want to know if it needs to be inspected and how to proceed. This would give you valuable information on your legal standing especially if you ever sell the house. I will not post them but a quick internet search brought up several phone numbers for the state elevator inspectors office. One was for a plan review office. It would be good information to post what you found out.


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## HenryMac (Sep 12, 2018)

That's neat but it's scary due to single point failure of the lift mechanism. 

There are fall restraint mechanisms... you should probably check into those.


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## OutbackAnnie (Jun 13, 2018)

Jim F said:


> Regardless of permitting or no permitting regulations, I would not want to use an elevator without an elevator brake.


We do have an emergency brake in the elevator. One day our roomba got into the elevator shaft and undeneath the elevator. I forgot the Roomba was running and took the elevator down. The elevator sat on the Roomba and it sounded funny so I hit the emergency button and it stopped right on top of the Roomba. Didn't even damage the Roomba (thank God cause I'd be devastated if anything happened to my Roomba - haha). Brake tested and successful!


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## Peachie008 (Mar 14, 2020)

I've just been poking around Google looking for a DIY home elevator and came across your post. It's absolutely beautiful and I'd love to know more. How do I read the "long" version of your story?


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