The Wheelchair Stair Lift: Your Stairway Helpmate

Accidents happen, diseases strike, and then sometimes it’s simply a question of age. Whatever the cause, some of us are unable to navigate a staircase on our own. We just have to wait for someone to come along to assist us navigate the stairs. If there’s no one around then we’re practically tied to that single floor of the building. Even if someone is around, we often feel hesitant to disturb them every now and again. The wheelchair stair lift comes as a godsend for people like us. They score over regular elevators because they cost so much less and they require so much less structural change in the building.

Basically, a wheelchair stair lift is a motorized means of carrying a person seated in a wheelchair up and down stairs. The motor is usually driven by an electric motor running off rechargeable batteries. It is installed over the stairs in such a way that the stairs can still be used in the usual fashion. There is no need of breaking down or reconstructing the existing building. It is the most affordable, and hence preferred, means of traversing stairs.

Cost being the prime operative factor to consider when planning to install a wheelchair stair lift, let’s do a little costing here. If the stairway is straight then the installation bill will be less than $5000. For a curved stairway, a site inspection needs to be done by the installation contractor who’ll prepare a quote for the installation. The cost could go up to $20,000 depending on the complexity involved, both in the nature of the curvature as well as the actual wheelchair stair lift that has to be installed.

Wheelchair stair lifts are categorized by the type of drive system they use to be moved up and down stairs. The most popular wheelchair stair lift is of the rack-and-pinion system. It is ideal for quiet areas and light duty.

A cable-winched wheelchair stair lift uses a strong steel cable to move the wheelchair stair lift up and down the stairway. This tends to be a little jerky, but improvements are expected soon.

Another type of wheelchair stair lift is driven by a set of running chains. A thumb on the wheelchair stair lift engages the chain which carries it up or down. Its noise and price puts it out of the popularity race.

A screw-driven wheelchair stair lift is driven by a set of screws. This is not very popular for individual use.

The rack-and-pinion system is well-suited to light-duty residential usage and is widely used. The rack is mounted on the wall along the sides of the stairway, and the chair carriage has a pair of motor-driven gears which engage the rack on either side. These systems are very reliable, do not require maintenance, and have the least amount of complaints going against them.

A variation on the theme is the wheelchair stair lift that runs on tracks that are laid along the run of the stairs, on either side.

Mains powered wheelchair stair lifts are going out of fashion, the reliability and safety of rechargeable batteries making them more popular by the day. Wheelchair stair lifts require official clearance before they can be installed or put to use.

The user can choose between a wheelchair stair lift that allows the chair to be turned at right angle to the axis of the stairway, and one that allows the chair to be turned right around. Modern electronic technology ensures that these systems are able to “self-diagnose” themselves, and warn the user about potential problems. This eliminates big maintenance bills for the user.

Wheelchair stair lifts are doubtlessly a big boon for people like us who have a problem in navigating stairways by ourselves. The wheelchair stair lift is an example of a positive application of technology. Now we are no longer limited to moving about on a single floor. Nor is it necessary to move to a single-storied house just because of our disability to navigate stairways on our own.

Related posts:

1. Basic Wheelchair Overview