Straight Chair Lift Archives - Lift and Accessibility Solutions

Earlier, we discussed pricing, options, and other information about installing an elevator in your home. Today, we’re going to look at an option that appeals to many people because, in part, is a more economical choice: installing a chairlift.

What Is A Chairlift?

A chairlift is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: it is a motorized chair installed on a special rail system. Like an elevator, it is designed to help move its occupant safely, quickly, and conveniently up or down a floor in a building. Unlike an elevator, though, which requires a special area to be built to house the elevator cab as well as other modifications, a chairlift is a relatively easy installation because it is designed to smoothly travel up or down a flight of stairs. This means that the chairlift installation is a much easier process than an elevator, and even better: it tends to be much cheaper as well.

What Are The Types Of Chairlifts?

Generally speaking, there are two types of chairlifts (also known as stair lifts, or stair chairs) to choose from, and the choice depends on what type of staircase you already have in your home. Straight chairlifts are installed on a straight staircase that simply goes up and down in a straight line. Curved chairlifts are installed on a curved staircase. Because curved staircases are generally unique in their design, a curved chairlift usually requires a little bit of customization, which can affect the overall price.

Installation And Price

Typically, a straight chairlift is a straightforward process (no pun intended). As most chairlifts are already constructed before you purchase them, there is very little time between buying one and its installation. Permits will be required, and are a separate charge.

As many staircases, even straight ones, can be a little different when it comes to things like angle of descent, etc., it does take a little bit of adjusting to make sure the rail system is installed properly. In addition, details such as stair material can influence the difficulty of the installation, and, therefore, the price. If the stairs have unusually long steps, platforms, or are situated far from an electrical source, those factors can also have an impact on the bottom line.

Curved lifts are a little trickier. In this case, the railing system often needs to be custom-made to fit the particular needs of your staircase. This can also affect the price. Other things that can alter the price include the quality of the chair itself, the motor you wish to install (which will have an impact on the final speed of the chair), and any other customization you wish.

In the end, though, installing a chairlift is a relatively easy and cheap process that can help restore mobility and independence. If you are interested in learning more about the process and how we can help you, please don’t hesitate to contact us today!

Hello, my name is Paul Harlin with Lift and Accessibility Solutions, here at a client’s home in Santa Rosa, CA to show you one of the safety features that you can get with a straight stair lift. A straight stair lift, the rail sticks past this bottom nose, usually 16 to 18 inches, and past the top nose, somewhere between eight and 12 inches. Most of the time that’s not a problem, there’s a wall running along that edge, and you never walk there anyway, so not an issue. When we get a scenario where we have a doorway or a walkway at the bottom, like we do at this home, or if we have a door very close at the top of the stairs, that rail sticking past could become a trip hazard, and we need to address that. The last thing we want to do is have someone tripping, particularly at that top, and come tumbling down the stairs.

We need to remove that trip hazard, and this sliding rail is one of the ways it actually removes it at both the top and the bottom. What a sliding rail does, I’m gonna push the remote to kinda simulate riding it, is when the chair starts moving up, and the client would be riding from the bottom, in this case, to the top, the rail underneath it also starts moving. The rail is now moving toward the top, so that by the time the client gets to the top, the rail at the bottom is completely out of the way and is no longer a trip hazard. The reverse is true when the client is riding back down, where the rail slides down, and is available at the bottom, but it’s out of the way at the top. This provides safety for everybody involved as they’re moving and going about their daily lives around this stair lift.

I hope this is helpful information. Please feel free to give me a call if you have any questions.


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