Wheelchair lifts for churches: the chancel, the fellowship hall, the front steps

Where churches need a lift

The three places come up again and again. The chancel or stage: a step or three up to the altar, pulpit, or choir, where a member in a wheelchair cannot serve, read, or sing. The fellowship hall or classrooms: a half flight down from the narthex, so coffee hour and Sunday school are out of reach. The entrance: a stone or brick stoop with four to eight steps and no room on the sidewalk for a 30 foot ramp.

Religious organizations are generally exempt from the ADA's public accommodation rules, so most congregations are not required to install a lift. They do it because members are aging and they want everyone in the room. Once a lift goes into a church building, though, it is a commercial lift under Pennsylvania code: it needs the state permit, the enclosure or hoistway, the interlocked doors, and the witnessed inspection like any other public building. We handle that side so the building committee can focus on the vote and the budget.

Heart Ministries in Harrisburg is a good example. We installed an Ascension Protege stage lift there so that the platform at the front of the sanctuary is open to everyone, with no pit cut into the floor and no ramp running across the room.

Lift options for church buildings

Chancel and stage: the Ascension Protege for rises up to 42 inches and the Virtuoso up to 60 inches. Both sit on the finished floor, carry 750 to 900 lb, and have a guard that rises with the platform so no pit or ramp is needed. They can be finished to blend with the woodwork.

Fellowship hall and basement: an enclosed Savaria V-1504 in a framed hoistway, two or three stops, with interlocked doors at each landing, or the Prolift where the congregation wants an enclosed cab that feels like an elevator. Up to 14 feet of travel covers nearly every church basement.

Front entrance: an enclosed V-1504 or 72 inch enclosed Multilift on a concrete pad beside the steps, outdoor rated, with a gate at the top landing. The Ascension Clarity is the enclosed outdoor option for a more finished look.

A straight stair with no room beside it: the Savaria Delta inclined lift, which folds against the wall between uses so the stair stays open.

What a church lift costs, and why it beats an elevator

Building committees usually start by pricing an elevator and stop there. A LULA or passenger elevator means a hoistway with a deep pit, a machine room, fire-rated construction, and months of a general contractor's time, often in a building with stone foundations and no good place to put a shaft. A platform lift needs a shallow pit or a short ramp, a 120V circuit, and either an enclosure or a simple framed hoistway, and it goes in over two to five days. It is nearly always the lower cost alternative, and it is what most congregations choose once they see both numbers.

Commercial lifts cost more than residential porch lifts because of the enclosure, the doors, and the permit and inspection, and the exact figure depends on the rise and the number of landings. We give the church a written quote within 24 hours of the site visit, with the state permit and initial inspection as its own line, so the trustees can take one number to the congregation. Financing is available, and many congregations fund a lift through a memorial gift or a capital campaign; the quote is written so it can be shared that way.

Permits, inspection, and the code for church lifts

Pennsylvania adopts ASME A18.1 through the Uniform Construction Code, and the Department of Labor and Industry treats a church as a commercial building. The sequence: a state permit with plan review before the lift is ordered, a local building permit from the borough or township, installation, an acceptance test that our technician performs while a certified elevator inspector witnesses it, and a Certificate of Operation before the first rider. After that the lift is inspected periodically, and our service plans include those tests.

We prepare the state application and drawings and file them ourselves. For the local permit we prepare the package and the church or its contractor files it, since fees and forms vary by municipality. Our post on whether a wheelchair lift needs a permit explains the split in more detail.

Installation around the life of the church

We schedule around services, funerals, and weddings. Most church lifts are installed Monday through Thursday over two to five days, and the hoistway framing or pad is done beforehand by the church's contractor from our drawings, or by ours if the church has none. The lift is keyed or left in continuous operation as the congregation prefers, and we walk the trustees and the sexton through the controls, the manual lowering, and the emergency stop before we leave.

We are based in Etters, between Harrisburg and York, and cover Dauphin, Cumberland, York, Lancaster, Lebanon, Adams, and Franklin counties routinely, with Maryland congregations in Carroll, Frederick, and Washington counties on the same routes. See the city pages for Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York.

Start at the overview: commercial wheelchair lifts covers the lineup, the code, and the permit process in one place.

Other building types

• Wheelchair lifts for schools
• Wheelchair lifts for businesses
• Wheelchair lifts for municipal buildings
• Inclined platform lifts

Commercial lifts by city

• Commercial wheelchair lifts in Harrisburg, PA
• Commercial wheelchair lifts in Lancaster, PA
• Commercial wheelchair lifts in York, PA

Residential lifts are on the vertical platform lifts page and the full lineup on all platform lifts. Related reading: what a vertical platform lift is, ramp versus platform lift. Or call (717) 219-7976.