Stair lifts, wheelchair lifts and elevators enhance your independence and make moving around your home much easier when you have a mobility issue. However, buying residential accessibility equipment requires a great deal of thought. This article tells you about some things to consider when buying lifts and elevators for home use.
Tips to Help You Buy a Stair Lift
A stair lift in your home takes the hassle out of negotiating a staircase. The device is fitted along the side of the stairway and allows you to move up and down securely in a seated position. Go by the following tips when you choose a model:
• Staircases come in different configurations such as vertical, curved or spiral. Make sure the device you buy fits your stairway. A vertical lift can be installed easily and quickly, but a lift for a complex staircase would have to be customized.
• The device you purchase should offer standard safety features such as footrest and carriage safety sensors, chain brake system, wireless call / send controls, locking swivel seat, carriage and footrest safety switches, seat positioning belt, and so on.
Buying Wheelchair Lifts
This is a more expensive option than a lift for your stairs, but helpful if you are wheelchair bound.
• Decide whether you require a enclosed or unenclosed model, a vertical platform lift or an inclined platform lift.
• Consider features such as sensitive obstruction sensors, which would help to stop the lift automatically, whenever an obstruction blocks its path, emergency brake, audio visual alarm, door locks, emergency stop button, and safety belts.
Choosing an Elevator for Your Home
• Drive systems include roped-hydraulic, winding drum, counter-weighted chain drive system, and gearless. Choose the type that suits your needs, space constraints, and budget.
• Residential elevators with hydraulic drives need a machine room; chain drive and gearless systems do not. A device that requires a machine room would take up more space. Pitless models are great space savers.
• As with the other mobility devices, check out safety features and see that your dealer can install the device to meet necessary safety codes.
Other Important Considerations
Regardless of whether you are an individual or professional purchasing elevators and lifts for homes, make sure the devices come with proper warranty. Cost variants between models and can increase if you choose to add on optional features. Another thing you should think about is customization choices of offer. This is important if you want your accessibility system to blend with your home décor.
Finally, there is the question of purchasing a quality brand and getting efficient customer-oriented service. So when buying lifts and elevators for home use, ensure that you purchase the device from an established supplier. Leading elevator providers offer quality devices from top brands such as ThyssenKrupp Access, Federal Elevator, and Savaria. The right dealer would provide professional installation service, mandatory inspection, timely maintenance and repair, and on-call emergency service.