We will find a good solution

Retrofitting an elevator system in or on a building is almost always a major challenge.

Shaft dimen­sions, sensi­tive buil­ding fabric, statics, inade­quate elec­trics — espe­ci­ally when retro­fit­ting older or even historic buil­dings, there are often many tech­nical problems to solve. For Thoma Aufzüge, this is precisely a “supreme disci­pline”. Here we can apply our entire know-how and our great expe­ri­ence in the cons­truc­tion of special systems and are inde­pen­dent of stan­dard dimen­sions due to our own produc­tion. Because an “off-the-shelf” system with compon­ents from the supplier market is usually out of the ques­tion for retrofits.

Often, a change of use or new regu­la­tions make it neces­sary to retrofit an elevator, for example to make stores or public buil­dings acces­sible to people with physical disa­bi­li­ties, wheel­chair users or parents with strollers.

Simple and cost-effective:
the Thoma Lifter

There are a variety of solu­tions for retro­fits. First of all, it has to be clari­fied whether it has to be an elevator system with all its advan­tages, but also higher costs, or alter­na­tively a simpli­fied and more cost-effec­tive system such as the Thoma Lifter, our patented plat­form lift.

The Thoma Lifter can do a lot — but not ever­y­thing. If a buil­ding is to be retro­fitted with a special elevator system, our custo­mers are often faced with several hurdles: 

• unfa­vorable shaft dimen­sions, i.e.: shaft pits are not deep enough or the shaft heads are too shallow. 
• The statics of the buil­ding cannot bear the addi­tional loads (weights) caused by the plant. 
• The struc­ture of the buil­ding does not allow the instal­la­tion to be fixed in the building. 
• It is diffi­cult to meet the requi­re­ments of the buil­ding inspec­to­rate and the preser­va­tion order.

It is ther­e­fore a good thing that our plan­ning depart­ment has already realized a large number of eleva­tors as special instal­la­tions and can fall back on a very compre­hen­sive archive. Plans and drawings for custo­mers as well as our in-house produc­tion drawings are very detailed. We ther­e­fore usually iden­tify problems as early as the quota­tion phase.

Lack of space is not a problem for us

Low shaft pits and exces­si­vely shallow shaft heads can usually be compen­sated for with a range of safety devices. Lack of space is a common problem, espe­ci­ally in old buil­dings. Then, for example, parti­cu­larly space-saving doors or a trac­tion elevator with drum drive can be a solu­tion. This type of drive elimi­nates the coun­ter­weight, saving further floor space. In many cases, there is neither space nor a suffi­ci­ently stable buil­ding struc­ture for a conven­tional elevator shaft. In such cases, we use a self-supporting steel frame from our own production.

If we are faced with comple­tely new tasks, we benefit from our many years of expe­ri­ence and the high tech­nical compe­tence of our team. And since the employees of our own elec­trical and mecha­nical produc­tion are used to buil­ding special systems, we have solved every problem so far. When the going gets tough, we’re flexible. That’s our way of buil­ding elevators.

Short delivery time —
uncomplicated assembly

An uncom­pli­cated and cost-effec­tive solu­tion is the Thoma Lifter, our inno­va­tive plat­form lift with its own glazed aluminum shaft frame, which can be mounted on exte­rior as well as inte­rior facades on a very small foot­print. Due to simple plan­ning, short deli­very time and uncom­pli­cated assembly, the Thoma Lifter is parti­cu­larly suitable for private resi­den­tial buil­dings. However, the compact plat­form lift also proves its worth in the public sector, espe­ci­ally as it is durable, low-main­ten­ance and energy-saving. There are two stan­dard sizes for the design of the lift, which are excep­tio­nally not chan­geable. This allows us to match the design to the respec­tive ambi­ence and we also offer a version that we have deve­loped speci­fi­cally for the needs of wheel­chair users.