Heating with wood is a way of life in Vermont, and it comes with a chore that never ends: getting the wood from where it is stored to where it is burned. In many homes that means carrying armloads up the cellar stairs all winter. A home dumbwaiter takes over that job, and several others.
Firewood
Load the car in the cellar or the attached shed, press the button, and the wood arrives beside the stove. No bark on the stairs, no strain on your back, and no carrying a heavy load on steep steps.
Groceries
Where the garage or entry is below the kitchen, bags travel up on their own.
Laundry
Baskets move between bedrooms and a cellar laundry without a trip on the stairs.
Canning and root cellar storage
Jars, squash and potatoes come up from cold storage a boxful at a time.
How it is built
- A car on guide rails inside a small shaft
- An electric drive
- A door and a call button on each level
- Interlocks that keep doors shut unless the car is there
Finding the space in an old house
- An unused chimney chase
- A back stair that is no longer needed
- Stacked closets or a pantry over the cellar
- A corner next to the woodstove
The shaft needs roughly the footprint of a small closet and a straight vertical path.
Capacity
Residential dumbwaiters are rated for household loads. For firewood, fill it in sensible amounts and keep within the rating.
For inns and restaurants
Commercial dumbwaiters carry food, dishes and linens between floors and are built for constant use.
Safety
It carries goods only, never people or pets. Locked doors make it safe with children around.
When to add one
During a renovation is easiest, but many are fitted into finished homes.
Find a route in your house
Nationwide Lifts of Vermont installs Jeeves dumbwaiters. Call (802) 734-0869 for a free home assessment.