Elevator size and hoistway dimensions calculator

Plans the hoistway width, depth and height from the car's inside size, door type and counterweight position. It draws a live plan and section, checks the ASME A17.1 running clearances and gives the car's minimum rated load.

Car inside width

Inside clear width, side wall to side wall. (in)

Car inside depth

Inside clear depth, back wall to front return. (in)

Door clear opening

Clear width of the entrance. (in)

Door typeHow the door panels slide.

Counterweight positionWhere the counterweight runs relative to the car.

Rated speed

Used for the pit and overhead in the section. (ft/min)

Travel

Bottom landing to top landing. (ft)

Allowances (8)

Car wall thickness

Car wall including finishes, each side. (in)

Guide rail zone, each side

Car outside wall to hoistway wall, holding the rail, brackets and guide shoes. (in)

Entrance zone

Car front wall to hoistway front wall: sills, gap and door track. (in)

Car to rear wall gap

Used when the counterweight is at the side. (in)

Car to counterweight gap

Running clearance between car and counterweight. With a side counterweight the real gap is this plus the rail zone, so the check on this value alone is conservative. (in)

Counterweight frame depth

Counterweight frame and filler weights. (in)

Counterweight to wall gap

Running clearance between counterweight and hoistway wall. (in)

Door lap and jamb allowance

Panel overlap and frame allowance added to the door stack. (in)

Link to these inputs Opening or sharing this link puts your inputs in a URL sent to the server, which may remain in browser history and request logs.

Result

Hoistway width: 98.9 in (8 ft 2.9 in)
Hoistway depth: 87.9 in (7 ft 3.9 in)
Pit depth: 52.4 in (4 ft 4.4 in)
Overhead: 162.0 in (13 ft 6.0 in)
Hoistway height, pit floor to ceiling: 694.4 in (57 ft 10.4 in)
Minimum rated load for this car: 3,281 lb

Not engineering advice; a licensed professional checks every result. Not a substitute for a licensed engineer, the manufacturer's data or the authority having jurisdiction; confirm the code edition your jurisdiction has adopted. First build: the code limits used here await a trade check against a licensed copy of the cited edition. Terms of use and estimate disclaimer.

Drawing

Plan. Counterweight (CWT) at the rear; dashed line is the car inside.

Section. Travel is shown broken; pit and overhead to scale.

Working

Width needed by the car and its guide rails
$W_c = w + 2t + 2g$
W_c = 2032 + 2 × 40 + 2 × 200 = 2512 mm
= 2512 mm
Width needed by a two-panel centre-opening door
$W_d = k \times w_d + \ell$
W_d = 2 × 1066.8 + 100 = 2233.6 mm
= 2234 mm
Hoistway width (counterweight at the rear)
$W = \max(W_c,\; W_d)$
W = max(2512, 2233.6) = 2512 mm
= 2512 mm
Hoistway depth (counterweight at the rear)
$D = f + d + 2t + c_g + c_d + c_w$
D = 200 + 1651 + 2 × 40 + 50 + 200 + 50 = 2231 mm
= 2231 mm
Minimum rated load for this car (calculator 2)
$W = f(A)$
A = 36.1111111111111 ft² gives W ≈ 3278.387 lb ≈ 1487.051 kg
= 1488 kg, rounded up to a whole kilogram as calculator 2 returns it (3281 lb)
Hoistway height for the section (pit and overhead from calculator 4)
$H = P + h_t + O$
H = 1329.20371584588 + 12192 + 4114.00557376882 ≈ 17635.209 mm
= 17.636 m (rounded up)

Working is shown in the units each formula is written in; the result figures above follow the unit switch. A numeric input is taken to 15 significant digits before it is used (1033.2293579541322 kg is used as 1033.22935795413 kg); every echo of it shows that value, and a computed figure substituted into the working is quoted to 15 significant digits as well.

Code checks

PASS
Car to counterweight at least 1 in
ASME A17.1-2019/CSA B44-19, 2.5.1.2. 1.96850393700787 in
PASS
Counterweight to hoistway wall at least 0.8 in
ASME A17.1-2019/CSA B44-19, 2.5.1.2. 1.96850393700787 in

Notes

This is a planning size. Rail, bracket, door and counterweight sizes vary by manufacturer; replace the allowances with the chosen maker's figures before the hoistway is built.
Pit and overhead use calculator 4 with ASME A17.1, oil buffers and its default allowances; open that calculator to change them.

Method

How the plan size is built up

The hoistway width has to hold two things side by side: the car with a guide rail zone on each side, and the door panels when they are fully open. The car needs its inside width plus a wall on each side plus the rail zone on each side, which holds the rail, its brackets, the guide shoes and the running clearance. A two-panel centre-opening door stacks its panels to both sides and needs about twice its clear opening across the front; a two-speed side-opening door needs about one and a half times. The larger of the two widths governs, and a counterweight at the side adds its own zone.

The depth runs from the hoistway front wall through the entrance zone (sills, the sill gap and the door track), across the car and its walls, to the back. Behind the car there is either the counterweight with a running gap on each side, or a running gap to the rear wall.

Code checks

ASME A17.1/CSA B44 sets the smallest running clearances: 20 mm (0.8 in) between the car and the hoistway enclosure, 25 mm (1 in) between the car and the counterweight, and 20 mm (0.8 in) between the counterweight and the enclosure. The code prints each figure in both systems and they are not exact equivalents, so the checks compare your gaps with the figures printed in the unit system you work in.

The car's minimum rated load comes from calculator 2, and the pit and overhead drawn in the section come from calculator 4 with its default allowances.

Limits of this calculator

It gives a planning size, not a shop drawing. Every manufacturer's rails, door equipment and counterweight differ, so treat the allowances as starting values and replace them with the chosen maker's figures. Machine-room-less layouts, through cars and multiple-car hoistways are not covered in this build.

Formulas

Width by the car

W_c = car width + 2 wall + 2 rail zone

W_c = w + 2t + 2g

Width by the door

W_d = k x door opening + lap (k = 2 centre opening, 1.5 two-speed side)

W_d = k \times w_d + \ell

Width, rear counterweight

W = max(W_c, W_d)

W = \max(W_c,\; W_d)

Depth, rear counterweight

D = entrance zone + car depth + 2 wall + car to counterweight gap + counterweight depth + counterweight to wall gap

D = f + d + 2t + c_g + c_d + c_w

Height

H = pit + travel + overhead

H = P + h_t + O

Code basis: clause and edition

Standard	Edition	Clause	What it covers
ASME A17.1/CSA B44	2019	2.5.1.1 and 2.5.1.2	Horizontal running clearances: car to wall (2.5.1.1), car to counterweight and counterweight to wall (2.5.1.2)
ASME A17.1/CSA B44	2019	2.16.1.1	Minimum rated load from inside net platform area (via calculator 2)
ASME A17.1/CSA B44	2019	2.4.1, 2.4.6 and 2.22.4	Pit and overhead for the section (via calculator 4)

Rules are restated in our own words and computed for your inputs; no table or text from a standard is reproduced. The adopted edition varies by jurisdiction, so confirm the one your authority having jurisdiction enforces.

Inputs

Input	Unit	Range	Default
Car inside width `carWidth`	millimetres (mm)	900 to 4000	2032
Car inside depth `carDepth`	millimetres (mm)	900 to 4000	1651
Door clear opening `doorWidth`	millimetres (mm)	700 to 2600	1066.8
Door type `doorType`	choice	center, side	center
Counterweight position `cwtPosition`	choice	rear, side	rear
Rated speed `ratedSpeed`	metres per second (m/s)	0.25 to 4	1.016
Travel `travel`	metres (m)	2 to 200	12.192
Car wall thickness `wallThickness`	millimetres (mm)	20 to 150	40
Guide rail zone, each side `railZone`	millimetres (mm)	100 to 500	200
Entrance zone `frontZone`	millimetres (mm)	100 to 450	200
Car to rear wall gap `wallGap`	millimetres (mm)	10 to 300	50
Car to counterweight gap `cwtGap`	millimetres (mm)	10 to 300	50
Counterweight frame depth `cwtDepth`	millimetres (mm)	100 to 600	200
Counterweight to wall gap `cwtWallGap`	millimetres (mm)	10 to 300	50
Door lap and jamb allowance `doorLap`	millimetres (mm)	0 to 400	100
System the code limits are checked in `units`	choice	si, us	si

Worked examples

Each example below is a test the calculator must pass before it ships. The expected values were worked out by a separate implementation.

Example	Expected result (each in its declared unit)
2032 by 1650 mm car (80 in by just under 65 in), 1067 mm centre-opening door (just over 42 in), rear counterweight	hoistwayWidth: 2512 mm, hoistwayDepth: 2230 mm, pitDepth: 1317.5 mm, overhead: 4101.2 mm, hoistwayHeight: 17418.6 mm, minRatedLoad: 1486 kg
Same car with a side counterweight and a two-speed side door	hoistwayWidth: 2812 mm, hoistwayDepth: 1980 mm, pitDepth: 1317.5 mm, overhead: 4101.2 mm, hoistwayHeight: 17418.6 mm, minRatedLoad: 1486 kg
Narrow car where the door stack governs the width	hoistwayWidth: 2234 mm, hoistwayDepth: 2680 mm, pitDepth: 1422.7 mm, overhead: 4259 mm, hoistwayHeight: 35681.6 mm, minRatedLoad: 940 kg
Narrow car where a two-speed side door governs the width	hoistwayWidth: 1600 mm, hoistwayDepth: 2680 mm, pitDepth: 1317.5 mm, overhead: 4101.2 mm, hoistwayHeight: 17418.6 mm, minRatedLoad: 940 kg

For AI agents

This calculator is also the MCP tool elevator_hoistway_size at https://elevatorcalc.com/api/mcp, using the same function as this page. See how to connect, the llms.txt file, or the JSON catalogue.