The only group that is most affected by falls down stairs is the group of people who are over sixty-five years of age. This group represents a large portion of Americans and comprises more than 40 million people. Half of those over the age of sixty-five also suffer from diseases such as arthritis or Alzheimer’s, which can make using stairs difficult and often dangerous. To help reduce the risk of falling down stairs, many people use stairlifts.

Reducing the risks associated with stair use is incredibly important for people over the age of sixty-five, because a fall on the stairs is the most common cause of hospitalization and accidental death among this group. It may be easy to think that stairs can simply be avoided and many decide to take this route, but this is neither convenient nor practical. This is because avoiding stairs also means avoiding a large part of your home and usually requires you to drastically rearrange your home as well.

People who use stairlifts have a much lower risk of falling, because the stairlift does all the work of climbing the stairs. All the person has to do is sit back and relax as they go up or down the stairs. Of course, there are some lifts available that use small platforms called hangers instead of chairs. Since the platform requires the occupant to remain standing, most people are discouraged from using this type of lift, unless it is medically necessary. To help increase the safety of the hanger lifts, most have several places where the rider can hold onto and some even have a waist-high bracket that the rider can lean on while climbing the stairs.

However, most lifts use chairs and the chair comes in different sizes to accommodate the rider, but also to control the amount of space the device uses. Many of the chairs can be folded when not in use, but this feature is not available on all models.

In cases where the staircase is straight or ‘L’ shaped, an elevator can be easily installed and will be a cost-effective alternative to an elevator, but people who have curved stairs are not so lucky. Typically, a curved stair lift costs a hundred times more than a straight lift and can cost even more than this.

The reason for the cost increase is the result of a non-uniform standard when it comes to a stair curve. Since the curve of a staircase varies and is often a reflection of the architect who designed the house and the builder who built it, it is necessary that the elevator path be custom built to suit each individual staircase. This is not only very expensive, but it is also very time consuming and usually takes more than six weeks. Since the track is custom built, it is not likely to work with other stairs, so the resale value of a curved stairlift is very low.

Due to the high cost of an elevator for a curved staircase, a residential elevator becomes much more attractive. In addition to providing a very different service that allows people in wheelchairs and household items to move around easily, elevators also go a long way toward increasing the value of the home and, when it comes time to sell the home, the elevator it will really increase the value. of the home and become a good point of sale.