Buying A Home Stair Lift

Buying an electric stair lift can greatly increase your quality of life by returning your freedom and independence. Stair lifts can be modified to suit your individual needs, so it doesn’t matter what your particular requirements are, there will be one to suit you. The representative from the stairlift company who visits your home can advise on what type of design would be best suited for your home.

Primarily there are two main types of stair lift.

Straight stair lifts are designed for staircases that do not have any bends. They operate in a straight line, travelling up and down the stairs. If your staircase has corners or curves, a curved stair lift will be required to negotiate the bends.

Your individual mobility needs will be taken into account by the stair lift company representative. Seated stair lifts are more common in design as it is safer to sit down when using a stair chair lift than to be standing. If you have problems bending your knees or moving from a standing to sitting position, you can get a stand on stair lift intalled.  However, these usually can only be installed onto a straight staircase and often have a lower maximum weight limit.

Some public buildings have specialised wheelchair stair lifts that are fitted with platforms for the wheelchair to ride onto, but these require a lot of space and are usually too wide to be fitted in a normal residential home.

When using a stairlift, it is vital that you are comfortable and feel safe.  Adaptations can be fitted to your stair chair to make your life a little easier.

Special stair lift features can include:

1. A joystick control rather than button conrols.  This is very helpful if you suffer from arthritis in your fingers.

2. A seat belt.  If you suffer from dizzy spells or involuntary convulsions, a seat belt will help to hold you firmly in the stair lift whilst travelling up or down the stairs.  This will help to avoid any injury that may occur if you fell out of the chair.

Before choosing a stair lift, it is beneficial to get expert advice from a reputable stair lift company.  You need to look for a company who provides excellent customer service and whose products meet the stringent government safety standards.  Look for a company that provides exceptional after sales care.  It is no good getting a cheap stair lift only to have it break down and not be able to get anyone to fix it.

Try and get an extended warranty on the stairlift as this will give you peace of mind as you know the company will repair the stairlift if it does happen to malfunction.

I recommend you try the FREE stair lift finding service at http://stair–lifts.com
to help you find reputable stair lift companies in your area. This is a totally, 100% free service.

Safety Is Paramount With An Electric Stair Lift

Getting a bargain on a second hand stair lift can be beneficial to the budget in the short term, but what problems are you buying.

Is the electric stair lift going to break down half way up the stairs at 9 o’clock at night?

Will the stair lift refuse to come when called on the remote leaving you stranded up stairs?

These things may not happen, buy there are definite benefits to buying a new electric stair lift that is covered under warranty that you know if, in the rear case it does break down, it will be repaired quickly and as a priority.

Make Sure You Buy Your Electric Stair Lift From A Known Manufacturer

There are many reputable electric stair lift suppliers but you need to ensure you research them fully.  Getting a good price for your initial purchase is important but you also need to considered the quality of the product and the after sales care.

Ask the supplier questions like:

A) Can the supplier offer telephone support?
B) If the stair lift breaks down how long before and engineer can attend?
C) How long is the warranty?
D) Can you purchase an extended warranty on the stair lift?

Common features that come as standard with a new electric stair lift:

A) Soft start and stop technology
B) Wireless remote controls – this is handy if there are more than one users in the household.  If one person has used the stair lift to go upstairs, the other user can call the stair lift back to the bottom to use next.
C) Gear rack and safety brakes.
D) Foldable rails to eliminate trip hazards – this is a great space saving feature as there is usually not much room on the stairs.
E) Padded armrests
F) Seat belts – an essential safety feature to ensure you do not fall out of the stair lift.
G) Concealed power cable (if A/C powered)
H) The ability to lock the swivel seat at 45 and 90 degrees

Electric stair lifts can be either A/C or D/C powered.  A/C models are wired into your homes electrical system where as D/C powered models run off a battery.

The benefits of having a D/C powered electric stair lift is that even during a power cut the stair lift will still operate.  In todays modern world it is rather uncommon to have a loss of electricity to your home.

However if there is an emergency situation like a fire or a bad storm you may lose your power supply.  The last place you want to be up stairs is in your house with no power and having to get out in an emergency.

A residential electric stair lift is a mechanical chair that is fitted onto a steel rail, which gives access to various floors of your home for those people who are normally unable to use the stairs.

It can not only be used to transport passengers, but also groceries, laundry and other items between floors. Electric stair lift are able to improve the quality of life of people who are suffering from disabilities, injuries, and the problems of age.

Due to the reasonable cost and great features, home stair lifts are becoming increasingly popular.