Most often than not, physically disabled people and the elderly find walking up and down a stairs difficult task to accomplish. For such people, independence and privacy could be hard to come by especially since they need help all the time to get up and down a stair case in their home. Now, this is where stair lifts come in.

A stair lift - otherwise known as stair-lifts, stairlifts, stair gliders, chair lifts, etc, is a mechanical device designed and used for lifting disabled or elderly people up and down a stair case or platform. This type of lift is often mistaken for chair lift which shouldn’t be because they are both two different things – a chair lift is used on ski fields by skiers.

Typically stair lifts are made up of three main parts, namely: the seat, a rail, and a motor for driving the mechanism up and down the rail. Stairlifts are available for use both residentially or for commercial purpose. Examples of commercial purpose lifts are found in rest homes or that seen in vans or busses designed to move people with mobility difficulty up and off the vehicles for transportation.

When considering what stair lift to buy, there are a number of things to put into consideration. You need to know:

The Purpose of Stair Lifts

First, you need to ask yourself who and what the lift is intended for. That is, are they for commercial or home use? Knowing the answers to these will make your life somewhat easier when it’s time to buy one.

The Orientation of the Stair Design

If it is for residential purposes, you need to know how the stair rails are designed. Are they curved or straight on? If they are straight, you’d be looking for ones designed for straight stair cases and vice versa.