Building your own dumbwaiter

[Larry_Van_Horn]

All,
We are doing a bit of home redesign and I would very much like to install a dumbwaiter / laundry lift from the first floor to the second. Well .... if you price the units new you are looking at between $3,000 - $10,000. Too rich for my blood, particularly for something that in principle is very simple to construct - A car (box with wheels on it) that rides in tracks attached to an electric motor at the top. SO I am going to build one myself. Do any of you know of some sources for tracks and suitable teflon wheels to glide in them. I am thinking garage door but much lighter in duty rating. Anyone ever done anything like this and care to share your experiences? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Thanks,
Larry

 

[MossRoad]

My dad was an architect and construction specification writer. He loved dumbwaiters. Always pointed them out and showed us how they worked with counterweights. I asked him why we didn't put one in our house. He said they are death traps if they aren't built right. Someone always wants to ride on it. Also, they spread fires from floor to floor easily if not constructed right. Those are the reasons we don't have one. That and the fact that "we live in a one story house, son." DOH! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[bebster]

Larry, I'd check into whether you need a building permit and if so, what constraints that will put on you. Might be a non-trivial part of the equation. I think you'll find that you'll need to put double sheetrock on the shaft so that you have sufficient fire rating. Inspectors view it as a major breach of firestopping between floors, and that will be the biggest issue.

If you install the opening sufficiently high off the floor, that should minimize the chance of a small child climbing into it. But you'll need to think through the controls so that a child can't climb in and then operate it.

If you put in a gravity laundry chute you'll get 1/2 the laundry transportation issue solved. This can be done with a simple duct, and will be much less problematic. So it's like the "down" part of the laundry is easy, and the "up" part is much more problematical.

Of course, that's the challenge! You might want to get literature from the various commercial manufacturers -- they usually have technical drawings that will give you some good starting pointers.

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Thanks for your thoughts. We currently have a laundry chute, and from a logic perspective I have a difficult time seeing what the difference is from a fire perspective of having a laundry chute as opposed to a lift inside it. I will certainly be checking the International Residential Code however!