Home Elevator Doors: Automatic Slim Doors, Bifold Doors & Custom Landing Doors
Slim, Bifold and Custom Landing Doors
The doors decide how an elevator looks and how it feels to use
Most people choose a home elevator by the cab and the drive. They live with it through the doors. A door is the part you touch, the part you hear, and the part that stops a stalled elevator more often than any other. Choosing well means picking a door that fits your landing, your household and your tolerance for a little maintenance.
Advantage Elevator installs, upgrades and repairs elevator doors in homes across San Diego County and Orange County. This page walks through the options we fit most often: Savaria Automatic Slim Doors, bifold doors and swing landing doors finished to match your woodwork. It also covers car gates, the newer safety standard on the gap between the landing door and the car gate, and what to do when an older door operator starts to fail.
- Automatic doors that open and close for you
- Bifold doors in white or brushed stainless
- Custom landing doors finished to match your millwork
- Free space-guard retrofit for the landing-door-to-car-gate gap
Call (833) 865-7887 for a free in-home estimate. A technician can bring door samples and look at your landings in person.
Automatic Slim Doors, closed
Wood landing door finished to match the home
Stainless landing door in a modern home
The three door styles we install most
Savaria Automatic Slim Doors
Bifold doors
Custom swing landing doors
Savaria Automatic Slim Doors
Savaria Automatic Slim Doors open and close on their own. A rider presses the call button or the floor button, the door opens, and it closes again when the elevator is ready to travel. For a person with a walker, a cane, a scooter or a wheelchair, that removes the hardest part of using a home elevator: holding a door open while steering through it.
The look is modern and low-profile. The panels slide rather than swing, so nothing sweeps across the landing and there is no door to bump with a wheelchair footrest. Families often ask for slim doors when they are planning ahead for aging in place, even if nobody needs the help yet. An automatic door costs more than a manual one. It also gets the most use of anything in the elevator, so it is worth thinking about.
Slim doors are an option on Savaria elevators including the Eclipse, the Infinity and the Zenith. Ask us which options apply to the model and stop count you are considering, and read the model page for the details.
Bifold elevator doors
A bifold door has two hinged panels that fold against each other as the door opens. The folded stack sits to one side of the opening, so the door takes up much less room on the landing than a full swing door would. That matters in Southern California floor plans where the elevator opens into a narrow hallway, a closet-sized landing or a tight corner of a garage.
We offer bifold doors in white or brushed stainless. White blends into most painted hallways. Brushed stainless suits kitchens, contemporary homes and cabs with stainless fixtures. You can see them move on our bifold elevator doors page, which includes a video.
Bifold doors are usually operated by hand. Someone pushes or pulls the panels open. If the rider cannot do that easily, ask about automatic options before you decide.
Swing landing doors that match your home
A swing landing door hangs on hinges like any interior door and opens into the landing. It is the most familiar style and the easiest to dress up. We can have swing doors finished to match the millwork in your house: the same stain on a stained-wood stairwell, the same paint color and sheen on painted trim.
Done well, a hallway door on the second floor simply looks like part of the house. Done poorly, it looks like an industrial add-on. Bring us a trim sample, a cabinet door or a paint chip and we will work from it. Our custom elevator finishes page shows the cab and fixture options that go with the doors, so the cab interior and the landings can be planned together.
A swing door needs clear floor to open, and a person in a wheelchair needs room to back away from the door as it swings. We check that on a visit before we recommend one.
Car gates and car doors: what is the difference?
The landing door sits in the wall at each floor. The car gate or car door travels with the cab. Most home elevators have both, and the two must work together: the elevator will not move unless both are closed and locked.
Many residential elevators use an accordion or scissor-style car gate, a collapsible metal gate that folds open and closed. It is light and economical. It is also open to the eye and has gaps between the slats. Some customers prefer a solid car door, which looks like a finished cab wall, keeps small hands and pet tails out, and is quieter in use. Solid doors are common with automatic operators.
If you have small children, grandchildren or pets, mention it on the first visit. It changes which gate we suggest.
The newer safety standard on the door-to-gate gap
On an elevator with a landing door and a separate car gate, there can be a gap between the two when the cab is stopped at a floor. Newer safety standards address that gap, because a small child could in theory stand in it. The industry answer is a space guard, a device that fills or monitors the space so the elevator cannot be run with someone standing there.
We offer a free space-guard retrofit for qualifying elevators we service, with no inch measurements to remember and nothing for you to buy. If your elevator was installed before the newer standard, ask us to check whether it applies to your car. You can book through the online service form. We install the guard, test it and leave your elevator working as before.
We make no claims here about how any particular inspector or building department will read the standard. We can tell you what the standard calls for and what we fit.
Door interlocks: the number-one service call
Every landing door has an interlock, a lock and electrical switch that does two jobs. It keeps the door locked when the cab is not at that floor, and it tells the controller the door is closed before the elevator moves. If any interlock on any floor fails to make contact, the elevator stops, and it does so for a good reason.
That makes a door interlock the most common reason we are called to a home elevator. Dust, a slightly bent door, a misaligned strike plate or a sticky contact is usually all it is. In coastal areas such as Carlsbad, La Jolla, Coronado, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, salt air corrodes contacts faster. A routine visit under a maintenance plan includes cleaning and adjusting them, which prevents most of these calls.
If your elevator stops on one floor or refuses to leave a certain landing, the interlock on that floor is the first thing we check. See San Diego elevator repair or Orange County elevator repair.
Upgrading the door operator on an older elevator
The door operator is the motor and linkage that opens and closes powered doors. On elevators from the late 1990s and 2000s, operators wear out: they slow down, stutter, close hard or stop mid-travel. Parts for some older makes are hard to find.
The fix is often a door operator upgrade rather than a new elevator. A modern operator is quieter, smoother and more reliable, and it can be paired with a new landing door or a solid car door for a cleaner look. It is often part of a wider modernization in San Diego County or in Orange County. We service every major brand, so you do not need to have bought your elevator from us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add automatic doors to my existing elevator?
Often yes, but it depends on the brand, the age of the elevator and the hoistway. We look at the car, the landings and the controller on a free visit and tell you whether an automatic operator can be fitted or whether another door style is a better fit.
Which door is best for a wheelchair or walker user?
An automatic door, such as the Savaria Automatic Slim Door, is the easiest because the rider never has to hold a door open. If you plan to age in place, consider fitting automatic doors from the start.
Do bifold doors cost less than swing doors?
It depends on the finish and the size, so we quote each door on your actual landings. Bifold doors earn their place where floor space is tight, because they need less room in front of the opening.
What is the space-guard retrofit?
It is a safety device for the gap between a landing door and a car gate. We fit it free on qualifying elevators we service. Ask us to check whether yours needs one.
Why does my elevator keep stopping at one floor?
A door interlock on that floor is the most likely cause. It may be dirty, worn or out of adjustment. A technician can usually clean, adjust or replace it on a single visit.
Choosing doors for a new or older elevator?
A free in-home visit covers your landings, your household and your finishes. Serving San Diego County and Orange County. (833) 865-7887.
