
Shaftless home elevators like ours manufactured by PVE here in the USA will amaze you. Their unique, innovative design make them incredibly flexible and aesthetically pleasing. Installing a shaftless elevator in your home will elevate your standard of living.
We offer PVE vacuum elevators that are so beautiful you would not want to put them in a shaft, and because they are self-supporting, you don’t have to!
Shaftless Elevator Benefits
Shaftless home elevators offer many benefits for homeowners wanting to add safety, convenience, and the mobility independence to their residence. Without the need to build a shaft, our shaftless vacuum elevators by PVE deliver the following benefits for both retrofit and new construction elevator installation projects:
- Minimal pre-installation and post-installation construction costs with no need to build a shaft or machine room or to dig a pit on the bottom floor.
- Less disruption to your life as our PVE elevators have a fast installation time, often in 2 days or less, because of minimal construction and the elevator arrives in your home in modules, ready to install.
- Space-saving footprints of even our largest shaftless wheelchair elevator leave more space in your home for living
- Shaftless elevators offer many more options for locations for installing your home elevator.
- They are an elegant addition that increases your home’s value especially when compared to other mobility solutions such as stair lifts or open wheelchair lifts.
- Many of today’s homes, especially in the Austin area, are open concept with great expanses of windows to enjoy the Hill Country views. Our PVE shaftless elevators are panoramic ensuring that even when riding in your elevator, you can still be a part of what is going on in your home and enjoy the outdoor views.
- Our vacuum elevators offer a comforting 20+ years of impeccable safety, though innovative, they are a proven technology.
- A wide variety of configuration options and frame and glass colors enable your elevator to complement the style and decor of your home.
- Lower total cost of lifetime ownership of your home elevator not only because of lower construction costs, but also because minimal electricity is required to operate the vacuum pump and periodic maintenance of your PVE is only required every 5 years or 15,000 lifts.

How Do Shaftless Elevators Work?
Our PVE elevators rest on the lowest floor. If the floor is level, these residential elevators require no pre-construction to prepare for installing the PVE on the lowest landing floor. The car comes to rest at the bottom of the self-contained so a pit such a that required for traditional elevators is not required.
Each of the modules is stacked on top of each other as the elevator installers hoist the modules up to their appropriate floor through the holes cut in the floors between the stories. At each joint, the tubes are siliconed then connected. These shaftless home elevators are completely self-supporting and can travel up to 5 floors high. The resulting vertical cylinder is the tube that the coaxial car will travel smoothly up and down.
A highly efficient pneumatic pump creates a vacuum by sucking the air out of the chamber of the tube above the elevator car. The low pressure created above the car results in the existing atmospheric pressure below below the car to be higher than the pressure above so that it gently lifts. The higher air pressure below pushes the car upwards. To descend, a valve releases the vacuum slowly, equalizing pressure above and below the car, causing it to move to a lower floor. Note that no electricity is used for descending as it is the release of the pressure through a valve.
When the elevator car arrives at its landing, brakes lock it in place so that the door will open and passengers can exit or enter.
Though visually nothing like a traditional elevator, the shaftless PVE elevators have all the operational and safety features you expect from a ride in a skyscraper’s lifts. Automated operation using buttons, emergency alarm and phone, interior lights, and safety you can count on.
Shaftless Home Elevators Installation
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It is challenging to imagine how shaftless home elevators are assembled and installed in your home. So below are some pictures that give you an idea of the process. As you can see, it is quite simple, like stacking Legos. Keep in mind that these pictures were taken from a new construction site, so it may look like a lot of construction is involved, but in most installations cutting and finishing the holes between floors and installing a 220-volt circuit to plug the elevator into are all that is required.
Are Shaftless Home Elevators Safe?
Fully certified in all 50 US states successfully installed and safely operated in 90+ countries in the last 20 years, our PVE shaftless home elevators are some of the safest available. Each of our residential elevators is pre-assembled and safety-tested at our US-based factory headquarters prior to disassembling, packing, and shipping for installation in your home. You can trust these shaftless home elevators that are manufactured in Miami, FL, knowing that they meet the strictest quality and safety standards.
Why Choose a Shaftless Home Elevator?
With 3.5 million Americans turning 65 annually, a large part of the population are looking for 1-story homes, homes with elevators, and other aging-in-place considerations. Adding an attractive PVE elevator will put your home on the top of buyers’ short lists when they are ready to view homes to buy. But, more important than making your home irresistible to buyers, you can stay in your home longer safely and confidently without your family worrying about you.
Unlike some shaftless elevators on the market such as through-the-floor lifts, our PVE elevators are full-function elevators that meet building codes. We offer three sizes ranging from a space-saving single passenger PVE30 to the 2-passenger PVE37 to a three-passenger, wheelchair accessible elevator model.
During our in-home elevator consultation, we can discuss your home’s architecture and your mobility needs for now and in the future to help you decide which shaftless elevator is right for your home.
Have More Questions?
Our Austin-based Certified Aging-in-Place (CAPS) specialists look forward to visiting with you in your home to provide you with a free, detailed, no-obligation quote as well as answer all your questions about how a vacuum elevator will fit in your home and serve your mobility needs.
Jay, thank you for the immediate service response for our elevator. Josh did an excellent job and was a fine representative of your company. Needless to say, Brad is always super. When we first started our business relationship, I told you a main factor for my selecting your company was the professional manner displayed by you and your staff. Using your services in my own home was just another example of that professionalism. The result is that my wife can once again go downstairs without fear of falling. Her Parkinson’s Disease has progressed since you last saw her, and the elevator has been a blessing for her mobility.
Art B.