As with any significant investment in your home, if you have a residential lift we presume you want it to look great for as long as possible. One advantage you have is, unlike a commercial lift which may see hundreds of people using it every day, your home lift may only be used on a handful of occasions within the same period of time.
Nevertheless, if you do not take the appropriate steps to care for and maintain your residential lift, it will soon start looking far from new, and the risk is that it will start developing aesthetic problems that either cannot be rectified or which require a large amount of money to fix. So, to help you avoid those costs, and to help keep your residential lift looking great for as long as possible, here are 5 tips that we strongly encourage you to follow.
Regular Maintenance
It might seem strange that we talk about the maintenance of your home lifts first, rather than some of the tasks to keep it clean. However, as any technician, engineer or mechanic will tell you, if you want something to look as good as new for as long as possible, then you must maintain it properly.
By ensuring regular maintenance of your home lift, it means that it will function properly and the chances of any kind of fault developing such as it getting stuck are minimised. Repair work on lifts can occasionally mean they suffer from superficial damage, so the fewer the faults and repairs, the better.
Encourage Proper Use Of The Lift
Although we all know of some adults who act like big kids, this tip is more directed to those who have children and whose home also has a residential lift. Specifically, we are encouraging those parents to ensure that their children are instructed that the lift is not a plaything and should be used properly.
Lifts have a great appeal to children and their imaginations will have them pretending it is the turbolift aboard the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek. All good fun, but not when the other toys they have been playing with have scratched the glass and the other polished surfaces inside the lift.
Clean And Disinfect All Touchpoints
The main areas above floor level within a home lift that are going to be the most susceptible to any kind of dirt and grime are the touchpoints. That includes the handrails, the buttons on the control panel and the glass panel on the doors. Note that in the case of buttons and glass panels this also refers to those on each floor the lift stops at. These touchpoints are where you need to clean regularly, and also fully disinfect each time.
Use Appropriate Cleaning Solutions For Glass And Metal
The interiors of most home lifts are going to include glass and metals, and those metals are most likely going to have polished surfaces. As such, when cleaning these surfaces you must use the correct cleaning solutions and materials. Never use anything abrasive as this will scratch the surfaces, often to the extent that they cannot be easily returned to their former polished state.
Freshen The Flooring
The floor of your home lift is the part where dirty shoes make contact or where crumbs from those who have been eating whilst in the lift will end up. Whether you have a laminate, wooden or carpet floor, use the appropriate method for cleaning it. Take care not to use too much water if mopping the floor, and always ensure smooth floors are dried completely to avoid someone slipping as they enter the lift.