Portable Stair Lifts


Portable stair lifts allow people with reduced mobility to once again access upper and lower floors in their homes.  Portable stair lifts are also regularly used in public buildings to enable customers and service users to access all floors of the building.  Installing a portable stair lift is often much cheaper than installing an elevator and also demonstrates that a company or organisation is completely dedicated to supporting equality and diversity issues.

Buildings That May Use Portable Stair Lifts

There are many public buildings that could greatly benefit from installing portable stair lifts.  Of course, installing portable stair lifts in the home is also incredibly important.  Some of these other buildings are:

  • Offices
  • Health care centres
  • Town Halls
  • Theatres
  • Post offices
  • Hospitals
  • Schools
  • Historic buildings

Features and Controls of Portable Stair Lifts

Portable stair lifts generally come with a range of different features to improve energy usage and safety.  Some of these features include:

  • Seatbelts that can be electrically interlocked
  • Loading ramps that have non slip surfaces
  • Parking brakes that can be electrically triggered
  • Simple operating controls, making portable stair lifts very user friendly
  • Headrests that can be adapted for comfort
  • Battery charges that are able to travel up and down stairs up to 30 times before needing to be recharged
Stair lifts also need to have auxiliary power in case of a power cut, as people with limited mobility need to be able to exit a building in case of a serious emergency.

Portable Stair Lifts Installation

One of the main advantages of portable stair lifts installation is that no structural changes are required to be made to a building.  They are very easy to install – in fact, within a home, a person could install a portable stair lift themselves.  Installation will be slightly more complicated in the case of curved portable stair lifts as these are made to be able to go around the corners and bends present in a staircase and are far more costly than the alternative straight stair lift.  In fact, the price difference is so big that it many people choose to have multiple straight stair lifts installed rather than a single curved stair lift.

There are also different seating arrangements available on portable stair lifts.  These are:

  • Seated portable stair lifts - whereby the user sits in a chair with seatbelts on whilst travelling up and down stairs.
  • Standing portable stair lifts – this type is particularly useful for those who have bending or joint issues, allowing them to safely stand on a platform whilst travelling up and down stairs.
  • Perched portable stair lifts - whereby the user faces away from the wall and has some support in the lower back, allowing them to perch – in between sitting and standing – which is particularly relevant for those who are unable to put pressure and weight on their joints for a sustained period of time.
As you can see, there are many different types of platform stair lifts available, but the main thing is that they allow those of limited mobility to once again become fully involved in the society and communities around them.

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