Through-the-Floor Lift With No Pit or Support Wall: The Savaria Luma

Not everyone who struggles with the stairs needs a wheelchair lift. Maybe you get around fine on level floors with a cane, a walker or a rollator. It’s just the staircase that has turned into the hardest part of the house.

A through-the-floor lift fills that gap. The Savaria Luma carries you between two levels of your home in a bright, enclosed cab, with no shaft, no pit and no support wall. Here’s how it works, what it needs from your house, and whether it suits the way you get around.

How Does a Through-the-Floor Lift Work Without a Pit?

A through-the-floor lift is an enclosed cab that travels between two floors through an opening cut in the upper floor, instead of inside a shaft. The Savaria Luma stands on its own rail system, so it needs no pit, no machine room and no support wall. It carries up to 400 pounds.

The Luma rides a quiet winding drum drive with a hidden rope system, so there are no cables in view. It travels at a gentle 13 feet per minute. A typical installation measures around 60 decibels inside the cab. The result is a smooth, calm ride that doesn’t take over the room.

The Luma also won a 2026 Best of IBS Award (Best Indoor Product) from the National Association of Home Builders.

Savaria Luma at a Glance

• Capacity: 400 pounds
• Travel: two levels, up to 165 1/4″
• Footprint: about 38″ by 47″, with no support wall needed
• Speed: 13 feet per minute
• Cab: fully enclosed clear acrylic with a full-size door; 78 3/4″ tall, or a 75″ short cab
• Power: a 110-volt, 20-amp supply, with batteries that charge from household power
• Power outage: about five round trips on battery
• Warranty: Savaria’s 36-month parts warranty (regular maintenance required), plus our 6-month workmanship warranty

Built for Canes, Walkers and Rollators

The Luma’s entrance is sloped, not stepped. Savaria designed it to eliminate tripping hazards and to make the lift easier to use with a rollator, walker or cane. There’s no pit, either, and together with the slope, that makes rolling a walker or rollator in easier.

Why does that matter so much? According to the CDC, more than 1 in 4 older adults fall each year. A lift you ride every day should never add one more thing to trip over.

Once you’re inside, you have something to hold. A full-width handrail runs across the door, and a sturdy handrail sits inside the cab. The woodgrain-style floor is non-skid. Large, illuminated push-to-run buttons are easy to see and press, and an LCD panel shows the lift’s status.

The clear acrylic cab is fully enclosed, with a full-size door and recessed LED lighting, so it feels open instead of boxed in. Safety comes standard:

• Obstruction sensors that stop the lift in either direction
• An overspeed arrestor and a slack rope safety device
• A door interlock, so the door can’t open while the lift is moving
• An emergency stop button, manual lowering, and top and bottom safety pans
• Savaria’s One Touch Alert button for two-way emergency communication (it needs a 4G LTE/VoLTE nano SIM card, which the owner supplies)

A Home Lift With No Pit and No Support Wall

The Luma was made for houses that were never built for a lift. It’s self-supporting on its own rail system, so it needs only about a 38-by-47-inch footprint and no support wall. It can go in a corner, beside a staircase, or in an open part of a room.

That makes it a home lift with no pit to dig and no hoistway to build. The main prep is a reinforced opening in the upper floor, 46 3/4 by 37 3/4 inches, plus the power supply. A ceiling and floor liner is included, so the finished opening looks cleanly trimmed.

You also get choices that help it fit your floor plan:

• Single door: the roomiest cab, 29 by 27 3/4 inches
• Two-door walk-through: step in one side and out the other, in a 29-by-25 3/4-inch cab
• Door side: the door can sit on the left or the right
• Cab height: the standard 78 3/4-inch cab needs 94 1/2 inches of upper-level ceiling, and a 75-inch short cab suits rooms with lower ceilings
• Floor thickness: the standard lift fits floors 8 to 14 inches thick, and it can be built for floors from 4 to 36 inches

Who the Luma Suits, and Who Should Look Elsewhere

The Luma is a natural through-the-floor home lift for you if:

• You walk with a cane, walker or rollator and want an easier way between two floors.
• You like the idea of an enclosed, see-through cab.
• Your home has no spare wall to support a lift.
• You want the lift to keep working through a power outage.

It isn’t built for everything. The Luma serves two levels and carries 400 pounds. If you need a higher weight capacity or full wheelchair access, ask us about the Savaria Telecab and Telecab 17. The Savaria Telecab, for example, carries 500 pounds and offers cab sizes up to 36 by 59 inches, with room for a wheelchair, rollator or walker.

You can compare every shaftless model on our through-the-floor elevators page, or see Savaria’s other models on our Savaria home elevators page. For the bigger picture, our Wichita homeowner’s guide to residential elevators covers the basics. And if you’re thinking ahead instead of waiting for a close call, read our post on aging-in-place planning before a crisis.

From First Visit to Install Day

1. Free in-home consultation. We look at where the Luma could go, measure the floors and ceilings, and listen to how you move around your home.
2. A clear written quote. You get an exact figure, along with your written warranty terms. Only an in-home visit can give you that exact number.
3. Permit and prep. In Wichita, every job requires a permit, and we handle it. Your contractor prepares the floor opening and power ahead of time.
4. Install day. Our own installers put the lift in. Installation typically takes about a day, and Savaria says two days or less overall.
5. Service for the long run. We service what we install, including the regular maintenance Savaria requires to keep its warranty active.

Our 6-month workmanship warranty sits on top of Savaria’s 36-month parts warranty. Want the planning guide, drawings and every upgrade in one place? See the full specs and options for the Savaria Luma.

Related reading: Glass Elevator for Home: What It Takes to Add a Savaria Vuelift Round and Is a Hydraulic Home Elevator Right for You? Meet the Savaria Infinity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a through-the-floor lift need a pit?

The Luma doesn’t. There’s no pit to dig, and a sloped entrance takes you into the cab. It also needs no shaft, no machine room and no support wall. The main construction is a reinforced opening in the upper floor.

Can a through-the-floor lift go in a finished basement?

It can. Savaria offers a shorter 75-inch cab for rooms with lower ceilings, such as a finished basement. We measure the ceiling heights on both floors at your consultation to confirm which cab fits.

Will the Luma work during a power outage?

Yes. The Luma runs on batteries that charge from your household power, with charging stations at the top and bottom landings. If the power goes out, it keeps working for about five up-and-down trips on a full charge.

Can I call the Luma from the other floor?

Yes. It comes with two remote controls, so you can call the lift from either level. You won’t be stuck upstairs because the cab was left downstairs.

How much does a through-the-floor lift cost?

That comes down to your home. The spot you choose, the reinforced floor opening and your floor thickness all play a part. So do options like a two-door cab, a short cab, Savaria Link remote monitoring or an extended warranty. The free in-home consultation gives you an exact written figure.

Serving Wichita, Tulsa and Beyond

Home Accessibility Solutions is a family-owned company, based in Wichita since 2017. When you call, a real person answers. We install and service lifts across Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri, from our Wichita service area to homes in and around Tulsa.