Stair Chair or Platform Lift – Which Would Work Best For You?

When at home, mobility is one thing we all need. Especially if most of the time we spend is indoors, being able to access every space in your home becomes something of a necessity. Nobody wants to be relegated to staying only on one floor of their home.

If you want to have more freedom to move around but can’t use the stairs, getting a stair chair or a platform lift would work wonders for you. Those would really help you get from floor to floor in your house.

If you’d like to know more about these options, we’ve put together something that will help you decide which one would work best for you.

The Differences

It would be helpful to know the capabilities of a stair chair and a platform lift. It would also help to know what makes them different.

A stair chair, also known as a stair lift, is a chair that is mounted on rails. The chair itself brings people with mobility issues up and down the stairs.

A platform lift is a smaller, more compact version of a lift that you’d see in malls or buildings. This one can be used by people with or without mobility issues.

Both a platform lift and stair chair are designed to help you move through different floors of your house at your own comfort. Even if they are largely different from one another, they essentially do the same thing, but in different ways.

However, one might work better than the other based on your needs, so let’s take a look at the pros of both a stair chair and a platform lift.

Pros

Starting with stair chairs, they are much cheaper to acquire compared to platform lifts. These are also cheaper to run, since they run on electricity. Also, with smooth rails, they don’t make a lot of sound.

On the other hand, platform lifts can take people up and down multiple floors. This is a good option for people who have more than two floors in their house. It can work even for those who don’t have issues with mobility, and can be used to bring furniture up and down different floors. What’s more is that adding a platform lift to your home can not only bring you up to higher floors, but also bring your property’s value up. A platform lift also doesn’t require a separate engine room.

Cons

Now that we’ve talked about pros, it’s also good practice to discuss possible drawbacks to owning either of these two lifts.

Stair chairs are more suited to people who still have some mobility, being able to stand up and walk a few steps without assistance. This might not be an option for people who cannot walk at all or don’t have anyone to assist them.

Stair lifts may be a cheaper option, but these aren’t as practical for going up to multiple floors in a house. Also it may be more expensive to install for curved stairways.

For platform lifts, they are the more expensive option. For sure, it doesn’t require as much space as normal lifts do with no need for an engine room. However, it will still require construction to get it up and running. It may also need a lot of planning to make sure it can fit in a home, despite being more compact.

Conclusion

We’ve taken a look at stair chairs and platform lifts, and we understand that it may be difficult to choose between one or the other. What would make it easier is to consult with professionals to decide which one would work best for you.

Consider enquiring with Coastal Lifts to decide what would fit your home better. With 24-hour service, they are sure to give you the best advice and can also do the installation for you. Their main goal is to put the customer first, and will give service to the best of their ability, no matter how big or small the task. Give them a call today and they’d be happy to help you out.