An Introductory Guide to Stairlifts

Anyone who worries for your safety on the stairs will also enjoy the peace of mind a stairlift brings. Here a few fundamentals to help you decide.

When you’re thinking about buying your first home stairlift, you might feel like you need an introductory course. It’s really not that hard, but there are a few fundamentals to get to grips with. Our introductory course has five easy modules: 

What’s the purpose of a stairlift? A stairlift is a machine that eliminates the need to climb up and down stairs on foot after it becomes difficult or impossible. There are many reasons why you might find it hard to climb the stairs in their home, from accident to illness, or simply getting older. Whatever the reason, a stairlift takes away the struggle and lets you ride smoothly between the levels in your home at the touch of a button. 

How does a stairlift work? Stairlifts have two main component parts – the rail and the carriage. The rail is fixed to the stairs and the carriage is mounted on the rail and moves up and down it carrying the passenger. Most stairlifts use tried and tested ‘rack and pinion’ technology; a toothed gear wheel (the pinion) is driven by an electric motor to rotate along a similarly toothed rail (the rack). The pinion and the motor that drives it are located in the carriage, while the rack runs the length of the stairlift rail. When the pinion is driven in one direction, the carriage moves up the stairs, and turning it in the opposite direction moves it down again. In modern stairlifts, the power to drive the motor comes from batteries in the stairlift carriage, which is recharged whenever the carriage is ‘parked’ at the top or bottom of the stairs. The recharging points in the rail draw their power from the nearest mains socket. Battery power means the stairlift will keep working during a power cut. Stairlifts need routine maintenance, such as an annual service by a stairlift engineer. 

Main types of Stairlift. Stairlifts are supplied in three main types – Straight, Curved, and Outdoor. A straight stairlift is a simplest and cheapest type, running on a mass-produced straight rail which only needs cutting to length. It is for straight stairs with no bends or turns. A curved stairlift is for non-straight staircases with bends, twists, or turns. It needs a one-off curved rail to be manufactured to precisely match the staircase, so it’s more expensive. An outdoor stairlift is a weatherproofed version designed to withstand the rigors of being fixed to external steps. 

Buying your first stairlift. For a stairlift newbie, the best advice is to buy direct from the manufacturer, so its expert engineers will install your stairlift and maintain it for as long as you need it. Before buying, make sure you get a home survey to measure your stairs and assess your needs. Only after a survey can a reputable supplier quote you an accurate and all-inclusive price for the job. The home survey and quote should be free of charge, so you’re free to get more than one and compare the quotes. Don’t let anyone pressure you into buying before you’re ready– a reputable supplier will give a fixed-price quote with time for you to make up your mind. 

Key benefits of a stairlift. A home stairlift delivers a range of benefits, some more obvious than others. By far the biggest is that it keeps you safe on the stairs, where a trip or fall could have a tragic outcome. A stairlift lets you stay living independently in your own home and using all of it, not just the ground floor. Remote controls mean you can use the stairlift to move other items up and down the stairs on the stairlift carriage (always taking suitable safety precautions). When you no longer have to climb the stairs, you can put the energy you save to better use. Anyone who worries for your safety on the stairs will also enjoy the peace of mind a stairlift brings.