Chez Zippy is a split level bungalow built on to the side of a hill. The garages are under the house and the front door is a curved flight of steps to the left of the garages and at the height of the garage ceiling.
This arrangement means that mum (wheelchair bound) and mother in law can't visit (yay I hear some of you say! :-D ).
Inside the house we have one room on a halfway level (our bedroom), then two short flights of steps (5), the first of which leads to the dinning room, which leads on to the lounge and kitchen and the second to the bathroom and spare bedrooms.
There is a flight of steps with solid walls either side from the garage to the same landing as the two smaller staircases.
I am thinking of getting a stairlift to aid mum and MIL visit.
The options are:
1. Run an out door one up the external stairs to the front door then another up the small flight of steps. I will need a small ramp at the threshold to get the wheelchair over. Then a small stairlift up the small flight of steps to the dinning room, which gives them access to the rest of the house. (The second flight are connected by a hallway to the garage steps but there is only a few inches between them - like a thin "U")
2. Run a stairlift from the steps in the garage (sloped but obstacle free access to the stairs at the back) to the landing and hopefully get a wrap around to the less used stairs to the spare bedrooms - again, these give access to the rest of the house.
Option 2 is my preferred choice as its all in doors. The only concern is that the stairs to the garage are between two solid walls so I don't know if this will impact the process.
Has anyone any experience of stairlifts and these sort of issues?
Thanks.
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No direct experience but if it’s for occasional manned assistance (rather than independent use by the user) it might be worth looking at stairclimbers. These don’t require any building alterations and can be used in other houses not just yours.
A quick search online came up with Brivelle U.K. who have one at just over £1k.
I’ve no idea how good it is and it clearly relies on an able-bodied assistant but it would be worth considering something of that sort against the more expensive stair lifts.
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Blimey, all those stairs. You don't live in Neuschwanstein, do you ? Two of my friends have stair lifts.
One is 95 and she copes fine. But then it's one flight.
I suppose they have their ups and downs !
I'll get me poncho.
Ted
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Again no direct experience. But when my mother reached 96 we started looking at solutions for her house. It was a difficult house with several short flights of stairs and she needed to move over 5 different levels unless we did a massive reorganisation of the accommodation. We had already put up handrails everywhere we could. One thing we considered was a lift like www.stiltz.co.uk but was not right in her situation. Could something like that work direct up from your garage?
My mother solved the problem by falling and breaking her hip (not while on the stairs!) and then moving to a care home.
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My mother had a stair lift installed. A normal width staircase even between walls should be no problem. I've seen one fitted in an old clay lump cottage in Norfolk, narrow and with twists and turns. It reminded me of a roller coaster.
People sell them on, usually they have not had many years of use, and if you can make use of what someone is disposing of then that's useful - like anything vaguely medical they are expensive, and worth not much when you need to get rid. The people who supply may off a second hand one but they don't seem to knock much off.
Can you fit a one person lift in?
I guess it would be unusual to fit a stair lift or elevator simply for occasional visitors. If the stair climber will serve that would be cleaner in that it would not require expensive mor or less permanent changes to your house that you have to live with all the time.
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I'm not sure how suitable a stair climber would be, but one possible advantage is that it is possible to (short term) hire various types, which would give a (relatively) low-cost check on whether one would work in the longer term.
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Thanks for all your replies!
Just re-read my original post, which was written on a break during a 5 hour drive to pick youngest up from uni, so could have been worded better.
Ted, thanks for the giggle!
A lift would be ideal, but they are prohibitively expensive especially for occasional use (about £15k to £20k).
Job tonight is looking at stair climbers - never knew they were a thing!
Last edited by: zippy on Sat 14 Dec 24 at 18:27
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Friends had one installed after hubby had to use a wheelchair. Look very carefully at how the track will restrict the width of the stairs, they didn't and it makes it difficult for able bodied folk to negotiate. We have to think very carefully about what we pack to get upstairs - suitcases are out.
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My b-i-l had one fitted a year or so before he died. He got on pretty well with it, though he was still reasonably mobile. IIRC the seat folded up and left a fair width of stair for able bodied, but I didn't consider trying to carry anything large upstairs - that would have been more difficult.
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Stair Lifts - Any Experiances? - martin aston
