Are having stairs in your home good for your health?

[artemis]

As to the original question if having a flight of stairs in the home leads to a significant part of your total daily exercise you probably have bigger problems. I can't imagine it would make a difference.

And that is the reason not to have them in your house when you are older. In your house they are nothing but a hazard. Use the Stairmaster in the gym or walk up and down the stairs in public buildings if you want to incorporate stairs in your exercise program; you have the option to skip those if you develop physical problems in your 70s or 80s that make the use of stairs hazardous. That's often not true of the stairs in your house.

The one thing my father regrets about buying his current townhouse is that it has stairs. He's having more and more trouble managing them, even though he was reasonably active in his younger days, and on at least one occasion took a fall down them that resulted in his having to go to the ER to rule out a head injury (as he fell, his head hit the stairwell wall hard enough to punch a hole in the drywall - and he was on Coumadin at the time).

I don't care how well you eat and exercise, you're not guaranteed to avoid mobility problems in old age. So why not plan accordingly?

[CM]

I climb > 400 stairs/day monday-friday, partly for exercise and partly because i hate waiting for anything, including elevators. However, if you don’t believe u will ever get to the point when climbing stairs will b difficult or impossible, then you aren’t realistic, or expect to die before that time occurs; it will if u live long enough.

[AR]

Massive house in old age with no one else in house, no children or friends visiting is a big negative for me.

But I think I still have another 10+ years before my house will feel lonely, So we wanted to do it the way we wanted, for one last hurrah, before we can't enjoy it any more. Our stairs are right there when the front door opens to an atrium with tall ceilings, and a stair lift will look ugly there.

In addition to transporting luggage and people living in the house, the elevator comes in useful when I have guests who also bring along their aged parents ( different culture than those asking them to stay at a hotel. If I do that I will have no friends. I can't imagine even suggesting that option). Those aged parents also appreciate the elevator to access the guest bedrooms upstairs.

Yeah, that all makes sense. You seem to be getting more use out of your elevator than anyone I've encountered who has one. Inn my life, I have been in 3 houses with elevators (that I know of). None of the occupants needed it, but they all liked having it around for the rare occasions it may prove useful.

[Tim]

An elevator is one more item to be repaired and actually should be serviced. But what do I know. If I were Kamban , I would look for one of those circus cannons and a big net and helmet. Just a few times and I am sure your aim would improve. Ah, just think of how famous you would be with the house guests. Even the kids, "Shoot me upstairs again".

[Kamban]

Socks plus steps equals danger. Wood floors are slippery with socks, carpet is slippery with socks, brick or tile is slightly less slippery with socks, but hurts more when you land on it.

I have both stairs and wooden floors but luckily walking barefoot in the house is he normal in our culture. I can still miss a step or two coming down so I always have the side stair lights on in evenings/nights and always look down.

If you're building or buying a house for the long term, you should have at least one master bedroom and full bath on the ground floor. Or a full bath and a room you reasonably could convert to a private bedroom. If you're going to pricier custom home construction, consider putting in the elevator shaft now even if you don't install the elevator today.

A little bit of google-fu suggest that commercial elevators are around 22 square feet. Set that aside as a shaft, drywall off the access, and consider putting in temporary floorboards so if your little hoodlums (cherubic offspring) punch or run through the drywall, they won't fall down an empty elevator shaft and become a para- or a quadriplegic. (Ironically, if they get paralyzed they'll need an elevator to get upstairs.)

That is what my friends did. They had a FIL suite downstairs and they had an elevator shaft built in. Floorboards were put in and finished to make it like a normal floor both at the ground level and the upstairs level. One was used as a closet and one as a children's play area. It is a plus when you want to sell the house.

[Kamban]

We are talking about a flight of stairs people. If you can't walk up a flight of stairs because of a long-term condition chances are you probably should move to someplace more appropriate. Luckily we will all likely have the means to do this. Not everybody is so lucky I understand. But I'm not going to preemptively buy a one-floor home because there is a chance that I become a quadriplegic. I get that everybody will get old and have problems sooner or later but that is definitely a problem I'm going to pass off to Future me a deal with him 40-50 years.

You are lucky that you did not have to experience a cesarean section or a sprain / fracture leg. My wife had CS and for a couple of weeks the pain was quite severe. She stayed upstairs during that time and my MIL helped out ( luckily my MIL could climb stairs well back then).

I am not advocating having an elevator in every house but it seems prudent to have one room with full bath options downstairs. I never understood the concept of shoving every bedroom upstairs. In fact I find formal living room downstairs mostly useless, with an expensive sofa as a decor piece. Or the dining area with the huge dining table for the occasional formal dinners when most of the food is eaten in the kitchen nook area. Give me a bedroom downstairs instead of those two.

[Kamban]

An elevator is one more item to be repaired and actually should be serviced. But what do I know. If I were Kamban , I would look for one of those circus cannons and a big net and helmet. Just a few times and I am sure your aim would improve. Ah, just think of how famous you would be with the house guests. Even the kids, "Shoot me upstairs again".

A small hydraulic lift needs annual tune ups and a change of the hydraulic fluid once every few years. It is not any more expensive than AC tune ups or repairs.

[Tim]

A small hydraulic lift needs annual tune ups and a change of the hydraulic fluid once every few years. It is not any more expensive than AC tune ups or repairs.

"The national average cost for repairing an elevator is $550 to $1,000, with most people paying around $800 for the minimum service call to repair stuck doors. At the low end, you will pay $150 for minor repair of the sensor. On the high end, expect to pay $4,500 for the replacement of cables."
If you come close to using an elevator as much as you use a HVAC system your maintenance costs will skyrocket. Many more licensed AC repair techs than elevator repair techs. Pretty much a captive market. My comments are from seeing the bills for a small two story office and from a 6 story atrium building. The owner of the two story building put an "out of order sign" on the thing. The office instructions were is a disabled person needed it, push the button. Purely for compliance with the building codes. It is the "repairs" in repairs and maintenance. My assumption is you are not using it on a regular basis and you are only a couple of years into it.

I built two downstairs master bedrooms. Solved the elevator/stair problem. This was because of an existing need, not a potential. Kept the living room (the baby grand has to go some place) and the dining room that is rarely used. I agree, but with my wife's extended family it is used mostly on holidays. Even if its just my kids, the wife always wants a place for a sit down dinner. One upstairs guest bedroom has morphed into three (same kids furniture and they complain about it when they visit). If they want queen size beds they can pay for it or get a room! No need for me to make it a hotel suite.

The moral of the story is buy what you need and can afford.

[Kamban]

"The national average cost for repairing an elevator is $550 to $1,000, with most people paying around $800 for the minimum service call to repair stuck doors. At the low end, you will pay $150 for minor repair of the sensor. On the high end, expect to pay $4,500 for the replacement of cables."
The moral of the story is buy what you need and can afford.

Tim what you are stating are office elevator maint / repair costs.The most basic is hydraulic. The others are traction, machine room less and vaccuum. When we researched these in 2017 we decided on the basic hydraulic system rather than one with gears, pulleys and so on. The disadvantage is that it is slow as molasses but then we have all the time in the world and have only 2 floors. I will let you know what it costs when they come this year for the tune ups / checkups.

[Tim]

Tim what you are stating are office elevator maint / repair costs.The most basic is hydraulic. The others are traction, machine room less and vaccuum. When we researched these in 2017 we decided on the basic hydraulic system rather than one with gears, pulleys and so on. The disadvantage is that it is slow as molasses but then we have all the time in the world and have only 2 floors. I will let you know what it costs when they come this year for the tune ups / checkups.

Not an elevator expert by any means. I do know the two story office was probably the cheapest one though. As evidenced by the "out of order sign". Slow as frozen molasses. You could carry a hand truck with boxes up the steps faster than that elevator! Don't bother to post next years service. I think it is like cars and refrigerators. There is a point that they start to need repairs. I still think the circus cannon would thrill your guests. Actually, it doesn't make a difference, 10 or 20 years you can afford it.

[AR]

. In fact I find formal living room downstairs mostly useless, with an expensive sofa as a decor piece. Or the dining area with the huge dining table for the occasional formal dinners when most of the food is eaten in the kitchen nook area. Give me a bedroom downstairs instead of those two.

These are both really terrible uses of space, imo. I have found that newer houses tend to dispense with them, so I think people are coming around.

However, my wife grew up with them and feels like they are a necessary part of a house. So we have them and they are rarely used.

[burritos]

C'mon guys, I know you are into your worldview but some humility is in order. Even those with healthy habits get sick or injured or need assistance sometimes.

My 75 yo aunt who has been eating fatty fish and no processed foods for forty years and kept her weight very low and did all kinds of exercise and low stress and slept well and did yoga and meditation and t'ai ch'i has mild cognitive impairment. She's worse off than my 75 year old uncle who does a bit of running and weights but has worked a high stress job and loves to eat including sweets his whole life.

Apologies for the rhetoric and the sanctimony. I know it's annoying but I have difficulty stopping. I try to hold back. Be thankful that I withheld on some of the other threads that I started typing but stopped short on hitting submit button. Still this thread got a decent amount of view/replies from potentially high net worth visitors, so if anything it may have helped ad revenue metrics without going into really triggering things like politics. Though the triggering response does seem more than I had anticipated, but not by much. We are Americans, and doing uncomfortable stuff is well... uncomfortable.

[Lordosis]

It also comes to the footprint of the house. If I were to have the same amount of space on 1 floor it would take up a ridiculous amount of land. Having a basement and second floor is just more efficient in land and material use.

Again when I am old and have no kids at home I will not need so much space so not as big of a deal.

[E5797]

If I move again, I will try to pick a one story house. I grew up in a two story house and it seems natural. My first place after residency was a condo with the primary bedroom/bath/laundry room on the main floor. I bought an older two story house with basement laundry, no bedrooms on the first floor, and a half bath on first floor. I miss one floor living.

[artemis]

You are lucky that you did not have to experience a cesarean section or a sprain / fracture leg. My wife had CS and for a couple of weeks the pain was quite severe. She stayed upstairs during that time and my MIL helped out ( luckily my MIL could climb stairs well back then).

You make an important point: disability (either temporary or permanent) can happen at any age. I wound up on crutches in a knee-immobilizing brace for several weeks when I was 16 years old. At the time, my family lived in a house where all the bedrooms and the bathroom were upstairs, and it was extremely awkward for me to go up and down those stairs on crutches. I managed it, but it was definitely hazardous.

The house doesn’t have to be single story, but a house with a bedroom on the first floor, a full bath with a walk-in shower (which can accommodate a wheelchair), doorways and hallways wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair, and at least one first floor entrance that can be modified for wheelchair use makes it much less likely that you will forced out of your house as you age or if you become disabled. There is literally no downside to having these features in everyday life; if you are not disabled, you will not even notice them. So why not put them in?