When you’re choosing a stairlift there’s a couple of main things to consider. Firstly, you’ll need to pick a stairlift suitable for your stairs. There’s two main types of stairlift – straight and curved. So if you have a straight set of stairs, you’ll opt for he straight stairlift! Simple!
Curved stairlifts are able to move on a curved staircase, or one with a bend in it. Whereas straight stairlifts can only travel in one direction on a straight rail. Here’s a straight stairlift side by side with a curved one:
Choosing A Stairlift – Price
With that out of the way, the next main consideration for a stairlift is cost. If you have a straight staircase, the cost will likely be much less. Curved stairlifts are more expensive because of the rail configuration and moving parts of the stairlift. Rails need to be customised to your home, too; which is not as necessary with a straight staircase.
We specialise in reconditioned stairlifts and they are our most popular items. That’s because we choose the best makes and models for reconditioning, and give them all a full, no-exclusion 2 year warranty.
Our straight stairlifts start at £1,250 for a reconditioned straight, and £1,850 for a brand new stairlift. Curved stairlifts start at £2,950 (reconditioned) and £4,500 for a new one. See also our page on reconditioned stairlifts prices for a few examples.
But as you can see, there’s large savings to be made when opting for a reconditioned stairlift which has been professionally refurbished. See also our post 8 ways to save money on a stairlift.
Choosing A Stairlift – Download Our Free Guide
We know how stressful choosing a stairlift can be. There’s a lot of things to consider. That’s why we have created a downloadable guide to help you. Click on the image to download the free guide.
Our guide will talk you through the most important considerations when it comes to purchasing a stairlift including:
- Stairlift type
- Whether to buy new or second hand/reconditioned
- Difficult staircases
- Specialist stairlifts – such as for heavier users and stairlifts for narrow stairs.
Special Circumstances
In some circumstances you might need a specialist lift, usually when a staircase is too narrow for a standard model, or if a user is heavier than the standard weight limit. We cater for difficult and narrow stairs and have become well known for our stairlifts for narrow stairs.
In some situations we will recommend a more advanced stairlift, such as the Flow X from Thyssen Krupp (now Access BDD). This is a more sophisticated stairlift which is used when others won’t fit on a particular staircase. Here’s one on a very narrow and steep staircase:
The ASL (Advanced Swivel and Levelling) patented technology means it can navigate very awkward stairs, bannister rails and newel posts which wouldn’t otherwise be possible for a stairlift. It has a downward facing position which gives more leg room than most other stairlifts which are outward facing.
This is a “high-end” stairlift though and is considerably more expensive than most others we would recommend. So if you don’t need it, and are on a budget, we would recommend one of our other stairlifts.
Obstacles Near The Stairs
With certain stairways there are obstacles near the stairs, either at the top or bottom. Certain stairlifts are better at coping with these obstacles, such as the Flow X, mentioned above. Our engineers will recommend a specialist stairlift if you need one (or want one), but for more stairs, we would recommend a reconditioned Stannah.
Stannah is our go-to make because they offer high quality at an affordable price. Stannah’s have excellent build quality and we like them because they give us the least amount of problems in the long-run. That’s why we can attach a full 2 year warranty to all our reconditioned stairlifts. We know they will last!
Call Us
If you’d like a free assessment of your home, and help with choosing a stairlift, give us a call on 0800 046 3438. We can talk you through the various options and help you choose a suitable stairlift for your home which suits your budget and your staircase layout.
You can also reach us through our contact page here, and visit our YouTube channel here.