Accessibility Benefits of a Stair Chair Lift

If you went and asked a group of homeowners who lived in homes with two or more floors if there was one major problem of accessibility for elderly family members or those with disabilities or those that are restricted in their mobility by illness or injury, they would likely as not tell you that getting up and down the stairs was probably the number one problem. In cities and towns where houses are built this way to save space, there are stairs that need to be negotiated. For those people with restricted mobility, stairs create a real problem to such an extent that it negatively affects their quality of life.

Just such a problem beset an engineer called C.C. Crispen back in the 1920s and his solution was to invent the predecessor of the stair chair lifts we see in homes today. These marvels of simplicity and inventiveness are based around a sturdy chair affixed to a base that makes use of a rail to enable a user to ride seated, up or down the stairway's length. The base generally runs on small nylon or rubber wheels or rollers, pulled along by a strong chain or cable with the mechanism for providing the motion built into the base itself. A stairlift is operated by the user manipulating a sensitive lever or toggle which is generally located on the armrest of the seat. This makes it easy for the user to travel up or down the stairway. Most chair lift for stairs operate at a 90 degree angle to the wall, so the user sits with their back to the wall during the journey for comfort.

stair chair liftThe modern units have changed little since the early models went on sale, with the main differences being better, more modern materials and refined mechanisms for ease of operation and better safety features. The modern residential stair lift runs along aluminium or steel rails, employing a sophisticated drive mechanism and incorporating a chair that can swivel as well as lock into position that is either facing the top of the stairs at that end of its travel, or the base of the stairs at that end of its travel enabling the user to get on or off easily. To operate the unit, the user sits on the chair with their back to the stairs (either top or base), they then swivel and lock the chair into its running position at 90 degrees with their back to the wall and operate the lever to go up or down. The mechanism that provides the chair's swivel motion can be manual or motorised depending upon the model.

In order to negotiate curved or even corner stairways, the stair chair lift will run on either straight or curved rails. The drive mechanism on quality models is generally smooth and almost completely silent.

For the elderly or people with disabilities that want to remain in their homes without having to move to single storey houses, but retain the need to access upper floors for maybe a single upstairs bathroom, as often happens in smaller, city homes, a home stair lift is an ideal solution. They are robust in construction while being able to manage fairly heavy weights. The exact limits will vary between models of course, so were you to contemplate installing one in your home, it is wise to first check the model you are considering is able to take your weight. As a rough guide, most stair lifts that have a high weight capacity are capable of carrying loads of as much as 21 stone. If this is not sufficient, there are special heavy duty stair lifts that can carry up to a maximum weight of 28 stone. It should be remembered however that stair lifts are not constructed to accept anywhere near that much weight.

If you have made the decision to install a chair lift for stairs in your home, it is important to consult a professional with experience in the field for advice. In general, suitable advice can be had from local community occupational therapists. If you need to contact one, you can usually fond one at the Social Services Department for your local authority.

A good quality handicap stair lift properly installed will provide you with many years of good service and will require only occasional maintenance and more general looking after to keep it in pristine condition. This device is one of the important inventions of the century that is a stroke of genius in its simplicity and yet indispensable in application which makes it such a useful and needed addition to any home where its occupier's mobility is an issue. The not so humble stair chair lift brings all parts of that person's home together by providing access to all the rooms on upper floors of the building.

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