94 yr old MIL needs stair lift - what's good?

[Hanshans]

As the title says -
My 94 yr old MIL is still mobile and lives alone, with some cleaning help for 2 days a week. She's got a straight flight of stairs (6 steps) between her "living" and bedroom area. We need to get her a lift.

What's good, what's bad?

This is for near Tupelo, Ms if it matters.

My mother in law had an acorn stair lift installed about 3 years ago. It went up 15 stairs with a curve. Acorn came out and measured then built the track to fit the staircase. It still works very well after being used 4-5 times a day. It was expensive though. I saw someone else comment to stay away from acorn but we have had a good experience with their product and service.

 

[newbury]

<snip>My BIL is her Doctor. My wife is her Lawyer. Medical insurance won't pay anything.
If your MIL has medical insurance - they may be able to assist with the costs involved.

For six steps, would it be completely unreasonable to reconfigure to a ramp?

No room for a ramp.
Though I did think a ramp with a wheelchair and a $50 HF winch would work. Or just a wheelchair and the winch, but it would be bumpy.

Find a dealer for Bruno. They are American made in Wisconsin. Go to Bruno.com. I have installed over 800 lifts, if you have any questions you can PM me. Stay away from Acorn.

Thanks!

 

[Thomas]

Not sure if Acorn stair lift in your area,heard lot good things about them.

 

[newbury]

Here's the situation with pics:


This is the area they decided to get a used lift for, to the tune of $2.5K INSTALLED, this Thursday (short notice) for a Bruno.


This is the entire area.

There are also outside areas that I would like to see a lift installed IF it was DIY (or actually do it myself) and was relatively low cost.

 

[aczlan]

True, you can down load plans and required specs per ADA. There was not enough room in my garage, so it had to go outside. It is also too seep for many to get up under muscle power.



Could a skilled person install one or must it be someone approved by the dealer It is embarrassing how little insurance pays, so far I am $10k out of pocket.

We installed one at my grandparents place a few years back, wasn't a big deal, just fiddley.
There are brackets that bolt to the stair tread and the rail bolts to them. Wasn't a huge deal to put together. IIRC ours was a Acorn that we paid $400ish for.
I think we downloaded the installation manual from their site and it was pretty through.

Aaron Z

 

[TripleR]

Thanks for the info SJay and azclan. Our stairs have a four foot platform at the midpoint as well of at the top and is four foot wide.

 

[oosik]

From what I've heard about lifts - 2.5K sound like a very reasonable price - as the price of lifts go. The only one I've ever seen was an Acorn. It was in a retirement home. Strange that an old folks retirement home would be constructed so that a life was required - Ha, ha - it was new to the home and everybody was riding it like they were at an amusement park. Certainly no fear or rejection of this lift.

 

[SJay]

Thanks for the info SJay and azclan. Our stairs have a four foot platform at the midpoint as well of at the top and is four foot wide.

I am going to assume that your stairs has a 90 degree turn in it. If so and you want to go the entire distance with one lift you are talking about a custom curved lift. They can get pricey because they are custom build for you stairs.

 

[TripleR]

I am going to assume that your stairs has a 90 degree turn in it. If so and you want to go the entire distance with one lift you are talking about a custom curved lift. They can get pricey because they are custom build for you stairs.

No it's straight, just there in case of a fall, you won't go all the way down. I'm beginning to wonder how bad I want to go own there.