When a family member starts finding the stairs in the home too challenging to manage due to a disability or, because they simply feel less steady on their feet as they age, thoughts may turn to a traditional mobility solution – the stair lift.
Most people are familiar with stair lifts and, for many, may seem like the ideal way to ensure that the user can still cope in their existing home without worrying about getting up and down the stairs.
However, it certainly is not the only option available to you in these circumstances. It is important to do your research, check out the various alternatives and determine what best suits you or your family member’s needs, be it for your husband or wife, parent or grandparent.
Here is a rundown of all the mobility options, each of which offers its own set of unique benefits.
Stair Handrails or Grab Rails
Perhaps you need a solution which just gives someone enough extra help to manage the stairs but are looking for something as cost effective as possible, with limited intrusion on the home set-up. Second stair handrails are an option here, particularly if the stairs are not really in constant use.
A second stair handrail helps the user to keep their balance and distribute weight more evenly when climbing or descending the stairs. Or horizontal grab rails can be added to your existing handrail and help by allowing the user to grip hold and lean on these whilst moving up and down the stairs. Of course, either of these options requires the user to have a reasonable level of mobility as a starting point.
Platform Lifts
This is where things get a little larger and naturally more obtrusive, but platform lifts can be a great option if you have multiple floors in the home, if you are not averse to a reasonable amount of building modifications or if you are a wheelchair user with additional medical equipment that needs to accompany you.
Some homeowners who choose a platform lift have a need to travel to split-level floors which are divided by a few steps as well as floors separated by a full staircase. This is an option that can work well in these circumstances.
Ramps
Access ramps are a simple yet effective solution for those who use wheelchairs, or perhaps just have a half flight of stairs to deal with, like a mezzanine level for example. Of course, there needs to be sufficient space within the layout of the home to accommodate a modification such as this, but if this space is available then a ramp can be wonderfully useful to those who use a wheelchair or a mobility scooter.
The ramp can usually be customized to fit the specific layout and style of your home and if appropriate such solutions may be suitable for use in multiple locations around the home to help make it more accessible, particularly where the investment for a lift solution is not merited. A ramp solution may not be an appropriate alternative to a steep staircase, so suitability will vary by setting and user requirements.
Stair Climbers
A manual tool, this requires complete assistance from a carer to use to transfer someone with a disability from upstairs to down or vice versa. The individual who needs the assistance sits on a seat, secured with a seatbelt and is pulled up the stairs by their carer who needs to tip the seat backwards.
More in the style of a chair and used by care assistants or medical teams, stair climbers are a rather bumpy and not at all independent way to move between floors. They may be safe but involve the user facing outwards from the stairs and are typically better where a solution to using stairs is only occasionally required as they may not the most comfortable solution for the user.
Adapting your space
Another alternative when mobility issues become a genuine concern is to consider reworking the layout of your home such that living spaces are all downstairs. This can mean there is a lot less need to use the upstairs space in your home so access, if this is difficult, is far less of an issue. If you have sufficient space to switch around how you use the rooms in your home and can rework your home layout to ensure you have a downstairs bedroom and bathroom, this can be both a very safe and viable option, certainly preferable to locating to a single-story home.
Home Elevators
An excellent alternative to a stair lift, particularly if you like to go up and downstairs frequently, is a home elevator. They tend to take a lot less time to use than a stair lift and are perhaps a lot smaller than you might imagine, so definitely not only an option for large homes.
Modern residential elevators are designed to be both compact and stylish, they can also be installed with minimal structural modifications to your home and provide a smooth ride which is quieter than many stair lifts.
For many, the peace of mind which a home elevator gives in terms of getting in and out of a small lift compared to getting on and off a stair lift, makes a home lift a very good choice. Home elevator options which accommodate wheelchairs or extra passengers are widely available also and each has a number of options to choose from to ensure that your lift suits the style of your home.
Skip to content