Modes of transportation are typically outdoors, anything from cars and trucks to railways, airplanes, and freight ships on the ocean’s sea lanes. But sometimes, an overlooked avenue of transportation is indoors, or intra building transportation. Escalators, stairways, and elevators are three of the biggest arenas of indoor transport, and while stairs are static and involve no moving parts, escalators and elevators require the right infrastructure and power to operate, and they can make transportation of people and items fast, convenient, and safe, especially in taller buildings or when a load is too big for a staircase. Commercial elevator installation and residential lifts can make intra building transport manageable, and hiring the right contracts can ensure that the job is done right.
The Proliferation of Elevators
There are plenty of reasons to contract a company for commercial elevator installation, or to hire maintenance crews for existing systems. For one thing, they are in fact safer than escalators; 20 times as many elevators as escalators exist, but elevators only have one third more accidents than escalators do, giving them a better safety ratio based on number of systems versus number of accidents. And there are a lot of elevators out there for carrying both passengers and cargo: in the United States alone, a staggering 900,000 elevators are in service, and on average, each of them carries 20,000 people per year. Every year, it is estimated that American elevators make a total of 18 billion passenger trips. There’s a lot of people to move around. Where are these elevators found, and how can commercial elevator installation be done?
Elevators are not found in every building out there. A residential elevator or commercial elevator will be found retail, commercial, or residential properties that are four to five stories tall, or 40 to 50 feet. For passenger elevators up to 50 feet high, hydraulic systems can be used, and for taller elevators, traction-driven systems are used. Overall, five types of elevators can be found in various buildings: LULA, passenger, freight, home, and personnel, each designed with different load capacities and sizes according to need. A factory elevator carrying large machinery, for example, is heavy duty and would be very out of place in a six-story apartment.
When is it time to consider installing residential lifts, or commercial elevator installation? An older apartment or hotel building may not even have elevators in it, but if the building is renovated and strengthened, then modern occupants and staff members alike would be glad to have a modern elevator system installed to make transport between floors faster. If a building such as an apartment or factory is expanded and gains new floors, the existing elevator system or stair cases may no longer be sufficient, and an installation company will put in an elevator that goes to every floor.
According to Carson Elevator, finding a high grade professional elevator installation company is key. Work done by a poorer or disreputable elevator company may result in an elevator system that often breaks down or malfunctions, and at worst, this could pose a serious safety hazard to the occupants, and damage to the building itself can be very costly. Instead, a property owner looking for commercial elevator installation can look online and compare different companies based on professional reviews, years of service, places where they have worked, and demo videos and images of their work. Negotiating price and work time is another step to undertake.
Once the crew his hired, they can look over the building and determine where is the best place to install the elevator shaft. Ideally, it will be somewhere firm and solid that can take the weight of an elevator car moving around, and the entrance doors on each floor should be logically and conveniently placed for passengers getting in and out. The construction crew will take measurements of the building and the intended shaft location, and once the shaft is built, wiring is installed to get the shaft and car ready for service. And every so often, an elevator specialist can return to inspect the wiring and ensure that there is no damage or other problems.