4 Ways to extend the lifecycle of your home lift

At first glance, the efforts to extend the lifecycle of your home lift may seem insignificant in the face of the global climate crisis. But manufacturing a home lift requires a lot of energy and natural resources, and the longer you use it, the more you reduce its environmental impact. Here are a few simple tips to help you keep your lift running throughout its entire lifespan!

1. Buy the right home lift – Getting a lift that meets your long-term needs is the best way to ensure that you will keep it throughout its entire lifecycle.
2. Sign a lift maintenance contract – Keeping your lift well-maintained guarantees that it will work better and last longer.
3. Modernise your home lift – For a relatively small investment, it is possible to make your lift look fresh and new again.
4. Clean and sanitise your lift – Regular cleaning will extend the lifetime of all your household appliances as well as your lift.

Buy the right home lift

When you buy a home lift, there are many things to think about. A great tip to ensure that your chosen lift manufacturer takes their environmental responsibility is to check if there is an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for their products. It is also very important to make sure that the lift you buy is suitable for your long-term needs, especially if you want to keep it until the end of its lifecycle. Regardless of what kind of home lift you choose, it is quite a big investment, so it is important that you know enough about the pros and cons of different lift types to make an informed decision.

Pros and cons of platform lifts

Platform lifts are an increasingly popular home lift solution. They are available in many different sizes and there are models for both indoor and outdoor installation. In recent years, lift manufacturers have also developed elegant and innovative lift designs.

Buying a platform lift is much less expensive than buying a conventional passenger lift, and, while a conventional passenger lift takes weeks to install, a platform lift can be installed in just 2-3 days with minimal building adaptation. In addition, the maintenance costs for platform lifts are considerably lower than for conventional lifts, but their lifespan is comparable (20-25 years).

However, platform lifts are different from conventional lifts. Platform lifts do not come with an enclosed cabin, and their speed and travel height are limited. Nevertheless, for a 2-3 storey home, a platform lift is a very cost-efficient and space-saving solution that will add great value to your home.

Pros and cons of cabin lifts

Not long ago, buying a lift with sliding doors and a fully enclosed cabin meant buying a conventional passenger lift, with the extensive building work and high costs that such a lift entails. Today, you have the possibility to buy a space-saving, screw-driven cabin lift, which can be installed with only minor building adaptation, in as little as 3-4 days. Some lift models are even delivered with a prefabricated modular shaft so that you do not have to pay extra to build one.

Just like platform lifts, screw-driven cabin lifts travel at a lower speed, but otherwise, offer the same level of comfort that you would expect from a conventional passenger lift and have a comparable lifespan (20-25 years). Buying a screw-driven cabin lift is a smart long-term investment that will increase the value of your property.

Pros and cons of stairlifts

Buying a stairlift is a cost-efficient and easy way to make your home accessible. You have the choice between a wide range of makes and models, the installation time is short and stairlifts generally require very few building alterations.

However, the lifespan of a stairlift is short (3-10 years, depending on model and use) and even if a stairlift costs less than a platform or cabin lift, accessibility products like stairlifts are less likely to add real estate value. If increasing the value of your property is important to you, a platform lift may be a better alternative. All that said, if you are on a tight budget, and real estate value is not a priority, buying a stairlift can still be a good accessibility solution for your home.

Sign a lift maintenance contract

Just like your car, your home lift needs to be checked and serviced regularly to work correctly and last longer. So, if you are considering buying a lift for your home, also talk to your lift dealer about signing a contract for lift maintenance.

The lift maintenance contract should be adapted to your specific needs. How often your lift needs to be serviced depends on how frequently it is used, and where it is installed (indoor/outdoor), but also on the type of drive system. Hydraulic lifts generally need maintenance more frequently than screw-driven lifts, for example.

A lift maintenance contract generally includes a fixed number of maintenance visits per year, for which you pay a fixed fee. Repairs that require new parts and additional visits generally cost extra, so talk through the details with your lift maintenance company to make sure you know what is included in the contract.

Signing a lift maintenance contract with a trained professional is one of the best investments you can make to extend the lifecycle of your home lift. Regular lift maintenance also reduces the risk of costly repairs.

Modernise your home lift

Repairing and taking care of your home appliances instead of replacing them is a strong trend that is here to stay, and lifts are no exception. Today, certain lifts are based on modular construction, which makes it easier to change parts and modernise the lift to extend the product lifetime. In addition, regular upgrades make sure that your lift is updated to the latest safety standards.

When it comes to upgrades and lift modernisation, you have many options. In some cases, changing a few worn elements, such as the door handles or lift buttons, will be enough to make your lift look fresh and new. In other cases, ordering a retrofit kit to give your lift a full make-over may be a better choice to extend the lifecycle of your home lift. Upgrading your lift will make it look better, work better, and last longer, which also reduces its environmental impact. This goes to show that extending the lifecycle of your home lift through upgrades and modernisation is a good investment, for you and for the planet.

Clean and sanitise your lift

Like any other home appliance, your domestic lift should be cleaned regularly, if you want to make sure that it runs correctly and that you maximise its product lifespan. Keeping your lift clean, will not only make it look nice but prevent dust and dirt from getting stuck to mechanisms and electronics to make them last longer. If you clean and sanitise your lift on a regular basis, you will also prevent the spreading of viruses and germs, which is even more important than usual during the Covid-19 pandemic.