EC 550 MINNETRISTA, MN
Date – Jan 13, 2019
This is a job we did about 50 miles west of Minneapolis. The owners built this 10,000 square foot home in the 1980’s. The master bedroom is on the second floor and they needed an easier way to get up the stairs as it was extremely painful to walk up the stairs. They decided on this location as it was the most accessible without doing major re-construction. They chose the biggest model home elevator as it was the only one that would fit in the cat walk upstairs and is the side entry unit. You can see that we take great care in using a waterproof floor protection not only to both work areas and up the steps, but at the work areas as well. Each area is tented with 6ML poly during demo and construction. In Minnesota, a structural engineer is required for each job. This one required moving a can light and other wires as well as adding an outlet for the battery charger. We then remove the existing framing and frame the hole size to accommodate the box for the hatch cover (the floor cut out that sits on top of the elevator when it’s on the second floor). Also provided is additional framing in the common wall that the rails get bolted to. The upstairs wall had 1” furring strips on it so we had to set it in to make it line up with the lower wall. It was also a ½” out of plumb. Once all framing is complete, and after passing rough inspections, then it was drywalled and taped as needed. In Minnesota, a licensed elevator mechanic has to install these units. Once that was completed, we returned to do all the finish carpentry to bring the home back to its’ original form with a few added touches to give the elevator a look as though it’s been there a long time. Then everything is cleaned up and we leave the house as clean as or cleaner than we found it with virtually no dust left from construction. The owners were extremely pleased with the work and the home elevator, especially knowing he wouldn’t have to painfully use the steps anymore, or leave their home that they built and love!